Quiet, sunny, cold weather for NJ Thursday
The end result of Wednesday's winter storm was upwards of 2.5 inches of snow/sleet accumulation around Sussex and Morris counties. That wasn't the big issue though — further south, there were some significant travel difficulties through much of the day, as sleet and freezing rain made for some very slick conditions.
There are some residual icing problems on this Thursday morning, as temperatures have fallen to or below the freezing mark across the entire state. Patches of black ice might make walking or driving a bit slick early on. However, the brisk wind that picked up overnight has helped to evaporate a lot of the moisture on roadways, sidewalks, driveways, etc. And road salt and brine will be very effective in these conditions, so major roads should avoid significant icing issues.
Even though skies will become mostly sunny Thursday, it's going to stay cold and breezy. Thermometers will only climb a few degrees, with high temps generally between 30 to 35 degrees. With northwest wind gusts to about 20 mph through at least the morning hours, the wind chill will be stuck in the 20s at best for most of the day.
Quiet weather continues for Thursday night, under partly cloudy skies. Low temperatures will be on the cold side of normal, bottoming out in the lower to mid 20s. I would not be surprised to see a few readings in the teens.
Skies will go mostly cloudy for Friday, as high temperatures improve to the more seasonable upper 30s to around 40 degrees.
A weak storm system will sag into New Jersey through Friday afternoon and evening, delivering a few snow showers to North Jersey. That geography is not exclusive — we could see a few snowflakes flying around anywhere in New Jersey late-day Friday. Nothing more than a coating is expected.
Clouds will increase for the weekend. And temperatures will too! Highs for both Saturday and Sunday should range from the mid 40s in North Jersey to the mid 50s in South Jersey. No matter where you live, that will be above-normal for early February.
Our next storm system is set to arrive over the weekend too. With such mild air in place, models show a "rain only" event for the entire state. First raindrops could fall as early as Saturday afternoon, with additional periods of rain through Saturday night and much of Sunday. While true "washout" conditions aren't expected, we're in for a soggy stretch of weather for much of the weekend.
The extended forecast through next week shows temperatures will remain at or above normal through mid-February. Therefore, no major snow storms on the horizon.