Nor’easter brings snow, wind, and rain to NJ

TRENTON — New Jersey's late winter nor'easter had a varied impact on Friday.

Drivers can be driving on bare pavement with light snow one minute and then hit a wall of snow the next.

"With temperatures hovering near the freezing mark across New Jersey, we've seen the skies flip-flop between rain and snow all day," said Meteorolgist Dan Zarrow. "As expected, significant accumulations have been limited to the higher elevations of northwestern New Jersey. But I remained concerned that colder temperatures and widespread snow could make things could get icy and/or slushy for your Friday evening commute."

Zarrow said the wind and preciptation will make for bone chilling cold on Friday night. There will also be ponding of water on roads especially in low lying areas along the coast durng the high tide.

The most snow in New Jersey fell in Highland Lakes in Sussex County with 11 inches as of 1 p.m.. and 10 inches in Montague.  The highest recorded wind gust was 68 mph in Cape May and 61 mph in Atlantic City..

As the winds kick in and the snow piles up in North Jersey over 158,000 customers are without power.. As of 4:00 p.m.,according to their respective online outage maps:

• JCP&L: 114,555 mostly in Hunterdon (Alexandria, Delaware Twp, Kingswood, Raritan, Tewksbury and Union), Morris (Boonton, Chester, Denville), Essex, Mercer, Passic,Sussex and Warren counties
• PSE&G: 31,813 mostly in Bergen, Burlington, Essex (West Orange and Union), Hudson, Mercer (Hopewell Boro and Twp)Somerset (Montgomery) and Union counties
• Atlantic City Electric: 11,782 customers mostly in Atlantic (Hamilton),Burlington (Shamong), Gloucester (Monroe) and Salem (Pittsgrove) counties

"That's the area we've had some heavy wet snow today," JCP&L spokesman Ron Morano said of the outages in his service area. He said crashes on highways and fallen trees have created access issue for crews trying to make repairs.

Morano said the outages are widely scattered and extra crews are being deployed to the area.

The morning's high tide flooded out a lane on Route 35 in Brick and Belmar. A lane on Route 40 in Atlantic City was also covered. Route 22 westbound in Union Township was closed at the Garden State Parkway for water that collected under the highway.

State Police said they have responded  to 109 motor vehicle crashes and 147 motorist aids on the roads they patrol since midnight which could be a spin out, flat tire or a mechanical problem.

In anticipation of potentially messy weather, many school districts canceled classes in North Jersey.

At Newark Liberty International Airport, 430 arriving or departing flights were canceled as of 12:55 p.m. Friday.

NJ Transit ran a regular schedule with 20 minute delays on the rails  on Friday, with cross-honoring in effect between rails, light rail, buses, and private bus carriers.

Amtrak suspended all service between Boston and Washington on Friday due to the weather.

How is the storm affecting you? Contact with photos and video to reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com or via Twitter @DanAlexanderNJ.