Rain, sleet and snow dampen hope for early spring across North Jersey

A late winter storm brought rain, sleet and snow to North Jersey for much of Saturday, dashing hopes of an early spring.

A line of severe storms traveled over North Jersey late Saturday morning through early in the afternoon and dropped as much as 5 inches of snow in higher elevations.

Snow began falling before 8 a.m. in the state's northwest. National Weather Service forecasters expected snowfall to envelop the entire region during the midday hours. Peak wind gusts of 45 miles per hour or more were predicted once the snow stops.

By late morning, the snow had already taken its toll. Among multiple unconfirmed accident reports, the state Department of Transportation had announced Route 23 was closed at High Point State Park in Wantage due to an overturned dump truck.

Wind gusts were the primary concern as of Saturday afternoon, said Bob Ziff of the North Jersey Weather Observers. A wind gust around 3 p.m. at High Point Monument, the highest spot in the state, hit 82 mph, data from the Office of the New Jersey State Climatologist shows.

New Jersey's major utility companies reported over 6,500 outages across several counties at 5:30 p.m. — with the highest numbers in Morris and Sussex across North Jersey.

Snow would not hinder repair efforts for New Jersey's Jersey Central Power and Light, but Dave Newcomb, a company spokesman, warned that winds above 45 mph or so could.

"If the high winds are ongoing, our crews can't get up in their buckets," Newcomb said. "It all depends on the local conditions, but they may be waiting for the winds to die down to do some of the work."

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The line of storms dropped snow from Mississippi to Maine and spurred tornado warnings in South Carolina and Florida. Snow fell in Memphis, Little Rock and Atlanta. A blizzard warning was in effect Saturday morning in West Virginia.

Widespread power outages in Georgia, South Carolina and Florida were reported by utility companies early Saturday. Local outages were few.

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Temperatures were expected to drop from the 30s into the teens through the overnight hours.

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With high temperatures in the 50s and 60s across North Jersey predicted for the coming week, the storm may be last of the 2021-22 winter season.

Saturday's disturbance brought back memories of a winter storm that slammed North Jersey in 2017, dropping upwards of 20 inches of snow to west Passaic and Sussex counties.

This story will be updated throughout the day. Check back frequently.

David Zimmer is a local reporter for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to the most important news from your local community, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Bomb cyclone brings snow, winter storm warning to North Jersey