Snowfall totals are expected to be between 1 and 3 inches along the Jersey Shore, the National Weather Service says.
Bitterly cold temperatures, snow and possibly freezing rain are expected from a winter storm that will arrive this weekend and linger well into next week, the National Weather Service is warning.
The first bout of potentially dangerous weather is coming Saturday and will include a slight chance of freezing rain in the morning, according to the Cape May County Office of Emergency Management.
Conditions will get even worse on Sunday, with the potential for widespread accumulating snowfall, followed by “dangerously cold conditions” for much of next week, the OEM said.
The National Weather Service says temperatures will fall well below freezing Sunday night and remain below freezing until at least Friday. The coldest period will be Monday night through Thursday morning, including high temperatures in the teens and lows in the single digits to below zero.
The forecast calls for wind chills that will plummet below zero at night, only to recover into the single digits during the daytime.
The frigid weather is likely “to lead to impacts for people, animals, and infrastructure. There will be an increased risk of hypothermia and frost bite. Impacts to infrastructure could include frozen pipes and increased demand for heating energy,” the National Weather Service said.
Adding to the misery will be snow arriving on Sunday, although South Jersey is not expected to get hit as hard as the central and northern sections of the state.
Snow mixing with rain closer to the Jersey Shore will produce snowfall of about 1 to 3 inches. The greatest snow totals of around 4 to 6 inches are possible near and northwest of the I-95 corridor.
The precise track and strength of the storm are still not certain, however, so snow totals could change heading into the weekend.
“Forecast guidance still varies significantly, considering it’s only 48-60 hours away,” the weather service said in a statement Friday.
Once the snowstorm clears out Sunday night, the dangerously cold temperatures will follow to put the state in a deep freeze through most of next week before there is some relief starting Friday, with high temperatures in the upper 30s to low 40s, according to the forecast.
The weather will include an array of hazardous impacts. (Courtesy of National Weather Service)
