How much snow and sleet fell around NJ during Sunday’s winter storm?

As promised, Sunday turned into quite the wild, wintry day across New Jersey.

Snow began in the early morning hours, sticking immediately to the freezing cold ground. Visibility and road conditions were terrible through the morning, even on major roadways, as temperatures were too cold for road crews and chemical treatments to effectively battle the storm.

As snow turned to an icy mix of mainly sleet around midday, accumulations slowed down. But plowing and shoveling operations become heavier and more slippery. And the storm raged on until late Sunday night. It was no surprise that storm cleanup continued well into Monday, with travel restrictions still in effect and widespread school closures around the Garden State. (Some districts have announced they will remain closed on Tuesday as well.)

Historical Context

In the grand history of New Jersey snowstorms, this one was not particularly historic or record-breaking. It will be memorable, because of how cold it was and how powdery the snow was — very uncharacteristic for a Jersey winter storm. And once again, by the way, it was not a blizzard — winds were not strong enough for long enough for it to qualify, as expected.

For North Jersey, I believe it was the most significant winter storm since February 2021. South Jersey has had a few healthy nor'easters that produced more snow, including two in January 2022 and one in January 2018. But when you consider the statewide impact, I think it is safe to say this was our biggest and most significant winter storm since the Blizzard of 2016 a decade ago.

It's Measuring Time!

Around the state, New Jerseyans dutifully stuck rulers in the snow to measure the storm so we can get a glimpse of what happened. The National Weather Service collects and vets these observations, along with several observation networks including CoCoRaHS (The Community Collaborative Rain Hail and Snow Network). In a few days, the NJ State Climate Office will quality-control and combine all these reports into a color-contoured map that summarizes the storm.

For now, I have collected a sampling of the hundreds of snowfall reports from around the state. I attempted to grab a "top ten" of high-quality observations from each county. Some counties do not have as many observers available as others. Reports marked as "public" source are excluded, as are any that I deem as suspect or incomplete in my expert opinion.

Note: These numbers represent only a sampling of snowfall measurements around New Jersey. This was a tough storm to measure, due to drifting and the sleet that fell on top of the snow and compacted it. You may have gotten more or less in your backyard — and that's OK!

I have also included an estimation of my final snowfall forecast, from the map published in my weather blog on Saturday morning (and republished Sunday morning). I think it is important to do an objective and transparent "post-mortem" analysis of each major snow storm. My forecast fared very well overall, especially considering the complicated nature of this storm — although there were a few notable misses along the way, which I will use as a learning experience for next time.

Without further ado, let's jump into the storm total snowfall numbers, alphabetical by county name.

Atlantic County

7.5"... Hammonton
6.7"... Buena Vista Twp
6.2"... Atlantic City International Airport (Egg Harbor Twp)
6.0"... Margate
5.9"... Somers Point
5.8"... Estell Manor
Final Forecast Call? 4-6"
How'd My Forecast Do? Some overperformance for inland areas, but south and coast did OK.

Bergen County

15.5"... Oakland
15.0"... Englewood
13.8"... Palisades Park
13.8"... Fair Lawn
13.4"... Montvale
12.8"... Park Ridge
12.5"... Westwood
12.0"... North Arlington
11.3"... River Vale
11.3"... Ramsey
Final Forecast Call? 10-16"
How'd My Forecast Do? Spot on!

Burlington County

10.0"... Mount Laurel
9.6"... Columbus
9.6"... South Jersey Regional Airport (Lumberton)
9.5"... Delanco
9.4"... Westampton (National Weather Service)
9.3"... Cooperstown
9.0"... Moorestown Twp
9.0"... Washington Twp
8.8"... Burlington
8.5"... Medford
Final Forecast Call? 6-10" for most, 4-6" coast
How'd My Forecast Do? Spot on!

Camden County

9.3"... Cherry Hill
8.1"... Pennsauken
7.8"... Barrington
7.5"... Erial
7.2"... Lindenwold
7.0"... Mt. Ephraim
7.0"... Haddon Twp
6.8"... Winslow Twp
6.5"... Stratford
6.0"... Berlin
Final Forecast Call? 6-10"
How'd My Forecast Do? Spot on!

Cape May County

6.0"... Ocean City
6.0"... Woodbine
5.0"... Cape May
3.0"... Lower Twp
Final Forecast Call? 4-6"
How'd My Forecast Do? Spot on! Barely.

Cumberland County

9.8"... Upper Deerfield Twp
7.5"... Deerfield Twp
6.5"... Millville
6.0"... Vineland
Final Forecast Call? 4-6" east, 6-10" west
How'd My Forecast Do? Pretty good. Not really enough observations to know where the 6" line really ended up.

Essex County

11.5"... Cedar Grove
10.7"... West Orange
10.5"... Maplewood Twp
10.5"... Irvington
10.0"... Montclair
9.9"... West Caldwell
9.5"... North Caldwell
9.4"... Verona
Final Forecast Call? 10-16"
How'd My Forecast Do? Close enough.

Gloucester County

10.5"... Mantua
9.0"... Franklin Twp
9.0"... Greenwich Twp
9.0"... Malaga
8.8"... Wenonah
8.8"... Paulsboro
8.3"... Washington Twp
8.1"... Monroe Twp
8.0"... Glassboro
7.2"... Pitman
Final Forecast Call? 6-10"
How'd My Forecast Do? Very good!

Hudson County

10.0"... Harrison
9.5"... Hoboken
7.5"... Kearny
Final Forecast Call? 6-10"
How'd My Forecast Do? Spot on!

Hunterdon County

13.0"... Califon
13.0"... Flemington
12.2"... Frenchtown
12.0"... Ringoes
11.5"... Clinton
11.0"... Lebanon
10.6"... Holland Twp
9.5"... Readington
8.5"... Whitehouse Station
Final Forecast Call? 6-10" south, 10-16" north
How'd My Forecast Do? Spot on!

Mercer County

10.0"... Princeton
9.2"... Woodsville
9.1"... Hopewell
9.0"... Mercerville
9.0"... Trenton Mercer Airport (Ewing)
8.3"... East Windsor
8.1"... Pennington
8.0"... Robbinsville
7.5"... Hamilton
Final Forecast Call? 6-10"
How'd My Forecast Do? Spot on!

Middlesex County

11.4"... Woodbridge
11.0"... Old Bridge
10.2"... North Brunswick
10.0"... Sayreville
9.3"... Helmetta
8.6"... Edison
8.5"... South River
8.2"... Monroe Twp
8.0"... Plainsboro
7.6"... Kendall Park
Final Forecast Call? 6-10"
How'd My Forecast Do? Surprising overperformance for the northern half of the county by an inch or two. Otherwise looks great.

Monmouth County

12.2"... Manasquan
11.1"... Red Bank
11.0"... Centerville
11.0"... Freehold
10.8"... Colts Neck
10.5"... Long Branch
10.4"... Tinton Falls
10.1"... Ocean Twp
10.0"... Keyport
9.8"... Aberdeen
Final Forecast Call? 6-10"
How'd My Forecast Do? Just like Middlesex, totals ended up an inch or two too high for a good chunk of the county. Even though I kept Monmouth in the higher 6-10" contour on purpose because Monmouth always overperforms, I didn't go high enough! This would be a miss.

Morris County

16.4"... Green Pond
16.0"... Milton
16.0"... Jefferson Twp
14.9"... Mine Hill Twp
14.2"... Rockaway
14.1"... Kinnelon
14.0"... Randolph
13.5"... Mount Arlington
13.2"... Lake Hopatcong
12.7"... Butler
Final Forecast Call? 10-16"
How'd My Forecast Do? Very good!

Ocean County

10.3"... Point Pleasant Beach
9.5"... Manchester
9.1"... Beachwood
9.0"... Berkeley
9.0"... Lacey
8.4"... Stafford
8.0"... Bayville
8.0"... Brick
6.5"... Surf City
6.5"... Jackson
Final Forecast Call? 4-6" south, 6-10" north
How'd My Forecast Do? The northern half is good. It's not really reflected in these numbers here, but the southern half of the county way overperformed my forecast and should have been in 6-10" too. I consider this a miss just like Monmouth unfortunately.

Passaic County

14.8"... West Milford
14.0"... Pompton Lakes
12.5"... Hawthorn
12.0"... Wayne
10.1"... Little Falls
Final Forecast Call? 10-16"
How'd My Forecast Do? Spot on!

Salem County

9.3"... Woodstown
5.2"... Salem
Final Forecast Call? 6-10"
How'd My Forecast Do? Close enough. Not really enough data to say any more.

Somerset County

12.1"... Belle Mead
12.0"... Branchburg
11.8"... Bernards
11.6"... Bedminster
11.5"... Hillsborough
11.3"... Manville
10.4"... Franklin Twp
10.2"... Watchung
10.0"... Montgomery Twp
9.7"... Green Brook
Final Forecast Call? 6-10" south, 10-16" north
How'd My Forecast Do? Very good!

Sussex County

20.8"... Highland Lakes
18.3"... Vernon
17.0"... Stockholm
16.5"... Wantage
16.0"... Newton
15.6"... Montague
14.9"... Hardyston
14.5"... Sparta
14.5"... Hamburg
14.0"... Hopatcong
Final Forecast Call? 10-16"
How'd My Forecast Do? Pretty good. Sussex County is always prone to overperform due to the complex topography, and this storm was no exception. I think my 16" max was a good reflection of the general totals around North Jersey. Maybe I should have put a "plus" on the forecast, but I believe this ended up very close to target.

Union County

11.8"... Cranford
11.7"... Newark Liberty International Airport (Elizabeth)
10.5"... New Providence
9.6"... Scotch Plains
9.6"... Linden
8.4"... Clark
Final Forecast Call? 6-10"
How'd My Forecast Do? Mostly good, although a few totals on the high side.

Warren County

13.8"... Harmony
13.1"... Belvidere BRidge
12.0"... Holland
12.0"... Great Meadows-Vienna
11.8"... Riegelsville
11.5"... Greenwich Twp
11.5"... Stewartsville
11.0"... Hackettstown
11.0"... Blairstown
11.0"... Phillipsburg-Easton Bridge
Final Forecast Call? 10-16"
How'd My Forecast Do? Spot on!

Dan Zarrow is Chief Meteorologist for Townsquare Media New Jersey. Check out Dan's weather blog or follow him on Facebook for your latest weather forecast updates.