TRENTON — The intense snow will make for a challenging and slow afternoon and evening commute Wednesday.

The peak of the snowstorm came mid-afternoon with snow falling at a rate of 2-3 inches per hour but should taper off from west to east, according to New Jersey 101.5 Meteorologist Dan Zarrow.

Zarrow said there has been widespread "thundersnow" around New Jersey, which is an indication of how deep and violent the storm is.

The best advice from the state Office of Emergency Management is to stay off the roads.

"If you must be on the road use caution and give work crews enough room to work," spokeswoman Laura Connolly said. "Don't crowd the plow."

Robert Palchanes, an Uber driver and member of the NJ 101.5 Commuter Panel said he had a "horrible" ride on Wednesday afternoon from Clinton to Flemington .

"I experienced both a snow covered road, and extremely dangerous whiteout conditions as I headed south to get a passenger. I couldn’t make it. The road conditions deteriorated very quickly as I headed south to Fleming on this back road that parallels rt 31. I had to cancel and turn around," Palchanes said.

NJ TRANSIT

  • All bus service SUSPENDED on all routes after 4:30 p.m.
  • Northeast Corridor between Trenton and Jersey Ave, Gladstone Line between Summit & Gladstone and the RiverLine between Cinnaminson and Riverside
  • NJ Transit rails continue operating on a Severe Weather Schedule Level 1 limited weekday rail schedule.

ROADS

  • State Police said between midnight and 4 p.m. that they responded to 356 motor vehicle crashes and 462 motorist aids (breakdown, spin outs, flat tire, etc)  since midnight on roads they patrol. That number is sure to have grown in the afternoon with numerous reported spinouts and minor crashes.
  • Route 95 northbound CLOSED between #4 (Rt 31) and #5 (Federal City Rd) in Hopewell with a jackknifed tractor trailer
  • Route 27 at the Princeton/South Brunswick border was closed because of 14 crashes and incidents in a three-hour span.
  • Speed is lowered to 35 mph on the entire Garden State Parkway and 45 mph for the NJ Turnpike between the Delaware Memorial Bridge and the Route 195
  • Empty straight trucks, large combination vehicles (tandem trailers and double trailers), tractors hauling empty trailers, trailers pulled by passenger vehicles, motorcycles and recreational vehicles are banned on the NJ Turnpike/PA Turnpike Extension

POWER

  • JCP&L continued its restoration efforts from last Friday's nor'easter while conditions allow from last Friday's nor'easter as new outages have developed in Hunterdon, Morris, Somerset, Sussex and Warren counties. More than 4,100 utility workers are working despite the snow in the hardest hit areas.
  • New JCP&L outages will be addressed on a priority system that deals with the largest outages first.

As of 4:15 p.m. over 99,000 customers were without power, according to their respective outage maps:

  • JCP&L: 47.785 customers mostly in Hunterdon, Monmouth, Morris, Ocean, Somerset, Sussex and Warren
  • PSE&G: 30,974 customers mostly in Burlington, Camden and Mercer counties
  • Atlantic City Electric: 20,917 mostly in Atlatnic, Camden, Cumberland and Gloucester counties

AIRPORTS

  • More than 1,856 flights in and out of Newark, LaGuardia and Kennedy were cancelled for Wednesday including over 600 alone at Newark.
  • Newark and Philadelphia are on ground stops with no flights in or out for the rest of the afternoon.

How are you affected by the storm? Share your stories, pictures and video with reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com or via Twitter

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