Could this be the winter without snow for the Jersey Shore?
January brought record warmth to New Jersey and February is kicking out spring like temperatures. For some parts of the state, this may just be a winter without snow — or at least it’s trending that way.
This winter, New Jersey has seen only four small snow events where northern parts of the state had 2 inches or more. In New Brunswick, the only measurable snow of the season to date was on Feb. 1, when a measly 0.2” of snow fell. Farther south and east and you're hard pressed to find more than a trace of snow.
Some frozen slop fell in the northern half of the state Wednesday. That nearly counts as a marquee event this winter.
David Robinson, the state climatologist at Rutgers University, said this year cold winter air has been blocked from the region. The jet stream, the winds that steer weather systems across the country, has been sitting north putting New Jersey in the path of southerly winds, bringing warm temperatures up this way.
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The National Weather Service is predicting above average temperatures in New Jersey through the first week of March. It is possible that February goes down in the top ten for warmth, according to Robinson, after January became the warmest on record in New Jersey.
“This has been quite the snow-free winter across New Jersey. This is a record late start to the snow season, beating the January 31, 1921, record by a day,” Robinson said.
Things can change though, snow lovers.
An average of 4.5 inches of snow falls in New Jersey during the month of March, making it the third snowiest month of the year. The record statewide average snowfall for March was 22.7 inches in 1914.
“The pattern can definitely change and increase the opportunity for snow. There is really not a strong signal right now either way looking more likely or less likely,” Amanda Lee, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service at Mount Holly, said.
While a lack of winter cold is unusual, a lack of snow occurs more frequently. Here are the lowest average seasonal totals for New Jersey, between October and April:
4.0” in 1997/98
4.3” in 1918/19
4.7” in 2019/20
5.9” in 2001/02
6.5” in 1997/98
“Suffice it to say that should we happen not to receive any further snow this season it would be a record low seasonal total,” Robinson wrote.
Punxsutawney Phil did declare six more weeks of winter, so keep your winter coats and sleighs handy.
Winter is not over.
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: NJ Weather: Jersey Shore's chances for snowless winter rise
