Is Winter Over In New Jersey? 4 Forecasters Weigh In

Some small mounds of snow can still be found in New Jersey parking lots, even as temperatures reach 60 degrees. Just a little over a week ago, Gov. Phil Murphy declared a state of emergency for a snowfall that left 8 inches in spots, but nearly all of that has melted by now.

But is winter really over in New Jersey?

Four prominent forecasters have weighed in on the subject – and you may or may not like what they have to say.

All of them agree that the weather will stay mild-to-warm over the next two to three days. But then temperatures are expected to dip again.

Here's what they have to say:

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE

The National Weather Service's long-range forecast looks to be relatively calm this week, even though there a chance of rain Thursday night into Friday. But the low temperatures are expected to be in the 50s and the highs in the 60s this week.

Jonathan O'Brien, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said temperatures will drop into the 40s by Monday, and that there is a slight chance of snow in North Jersey – particularly in Sussex and Morris counties – on Monday. But that's it.

"It doesn't look like there's much in the way of wintry weather," O'Brien said.

O'Brien said it's getting late in the season "so anything could happen. But the later in March we get, the odds of winter weather go down."

ACCUWEATHER

Max Vido, an AccuWeather meteorologist, noted that March 2018 produced a large amount of snow in New Jersey largely because of a late season split of the polar vortex, sending arctic weather to the south.

The same scenario didn't pan out this year despite some predictions that history would repeat itself, he said.

Indeed, Vido said AccuWeather's forecast also predicts some light snow in North Jersey on Monday. But temperatues will be in the 50s and 60s, mostly, for the rest of March.

"We're seeing a faser turn to spring," Vido said. "There's not a whole lot to look at here."

Temperatures may make a run at 60 in Boston, the middle 60s in New York City and New Jersey, 70 in Philadelphia and the middle 70s in Washington, D.C., on Friday, according to AccuWeather.

Surging temperatures with a quickening wind and some rain thrown in will raise the risk of urban and small stream flooding as well as ice jam flooding spanning Friday to Saturday over the northern tier and in some of the mountains, according to AccuWeather.

Temperatures will trend to normal early this weekend then dip below average levels late this weekend to multiple days next week. The average high for New York City is near 50 degrees during the middle of March, but highs during several days of next week will be in the middle 40s. Throw in some wind at times, and AccuWeather says temperatures can dip into the 30s and 20s on occasion.

WEATHER CHANNEL

The Weather Channel is tracking another winter storm but it's not expected to impact the New Jersey region at this point.

The storm is expected to impact the Plains and upper Midwest late this week before winding down and turning to rain.

Like Accuweather, The Weather Channel is predicting a mild end to the week with cold temperatures returning by the late weekend. However, there is no snow (as of now) in the Weather Channel's forecast for March.

RUTGERS UNIVERSITY METEOROLOGY PROGRAM

The early part of 2019 across New Jersey was not one "that will leave an indelible mark in the memory bank," according to a release from the Rutgers University Meteology Program. And the program's forecasts continue to show that the rest of March will not produce any kind of unusual weather.

Unlike some of the wild conditions that afflicted many other parts of the nation, New Jersey precipitation events continue to be only minor to moderate, and there is nothing in the way of stream and river flooding that's expected to happen. Calm condition will contunue to prevail, the program said.

With reporting by Kara Seymour