Not Quite A White Christmas, But Still A Storm To Remember Here In New Jersey

Good evening everyone. It has been about two and a half months since I last posted to the blog here at Hurricaneville.com, but today’s storm awoke me from my slumber. A powerful nor’easter is currently bringing blizzard conditions to Northwestern Middlesex County as well as much of the rest of the Garden State. The snow has been falling since about mid-morning here in New Jersey, but the fiercest part of the storm began around 3:00 PM this afternoon.

The barometric pressure has been falling steadily throughout the day, and currently stands at 29.26 inches of Hg, or 991 millibars. Winds have gusted to over 50 miles per hour along the coast, and there have been confirmed reports of thunder around the area. This storm has quite a history as it was responsible for torrential rains in Southern California and Las Vegas. It produced the first White Christmas in Huntsville, Alabama since 1985, in Nashville, Tennessee since 1992, and in Atlanta, Georgia for the first time since 1882.

The storm has become stronger during the course of the day with snowfall rates between one and three inches since the brunt of it rolled into the Garden State. Forecast models indicate that the storm could deepen to a Category Three Hurricane strength storm by the time all is said and done. The holiday blizzard has already made a huge impact on life around the Northeastern United States. Railroad travel between Boston and New York going in both directions has been shut down. A State of Emergency has been issued for New Jersey.

As of this afternoon, there had already been 100 accidents on the Garden State Parkway and New Jersey Turnpike. At the local airports, the Port Authority reported to have 1,400 flights cancelled on Sunday alone. The Sunday night NFL football game between the Minnesota Vikings and Philadelphia Eagles has been postponed until Tuesday night due to public safety reasons. As far as what to expect, the storm is expected to pack a wallop throughout the night into early Monday morning here in Central Jersey. Final snowfall amounts when all is said and done is forecasted to be between 12 and 18 inches.

The snow is expected to taper off by midday on Monday. However, the winds are expected to continue, and that will cause blowing snow to persist even after the snow has stopped falling. Things will gradually get better as we get through the rest of the week with temperatures moderating into the 40s by the start of 2011 this coming weekend.