Strong Storm Causes Power Outages In Middlesex County

Another strong storm strikes a crippling blow to the Garden State.  On Wednesday, a little more than a week after Hurricane Sandy devastated many parts of New Jersey, a powerful Nor’easter developed and brought the first significant snow of the season along with sleet, rain, gusty winds, and more coastal flooding.

As of the 8:00 PM hour on Wednesday in Northwestern Middlesex County, anywhere from a coating to an inch of snow fell.  Barometric pressure has dropped to 29.82 inches of Hg, and winds have been between 20 and 30 miles per hour.  Although the storm stayed a bit further offshore than the models had anticipated up until yesterday, it has delivered some salt to the wounds for a region still struggling in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy.

Prior to Wednesday evening, there had been about 180,000 customers of PSE&G still without power since storm.   However, starting late this afternoon, and carrying over into this evening, another 60,000 customers were left in the dark again.  These customers included residents in South Plainfield, North Edison, Edison, East Brunswick, Metuchen, New Brunswick, and North Brunswick.  Many of these residents called local radio station, WCTC to complain about the  power situation.

The flurries had been flying all across Northwestern Middlesex County since this morning, but the snowfall actually picked up in intensity along with the wind at about 3:00 PM this afternoon.  The snow is covering power lines, and with the amount of stress that the power system has already taken from last week’s storm, any strong wind could disrupt power.   The rough weather conditions are expected to last through this evening into Thursday.

There is some good news though.  Very nice weather is expected for Friday into Sunday.  After only a high in the low to mid 40s on Thursday, the mercury is expected to climb into the mid 50s by Friday, lower 60s by Saturday, and believe it or not, the upper 60s by Sunday.