Newark Residents Await School Info, City Response

Newark residents braced for a massive winter storm Monday as Newark Prep Charter School scheduled a 1 p.m. release and the city unveiled a snow response tracking app that will provide residents with live updates on salt trucks and snow plows.

Essex County officials alerted residents by telephone Sunday night on a county wide snow emergency declaration, which requires residents to remove vehicles from county roads. Newark Public Schools had not officially announced dismissal times late Sunday.

PSE&G, the Newark-based utility, said it was reaching out for 100 additional mutual aid lineman in anticipation of potential downed trees and power lines and bringing in outside contractors to assist with downed trees.

Police and paramedics in Essex County alerted residents today on a new winter storm that is expected to dump up to 30 inches of snow on the area starting Monday afternoon, with high wind gusts and sub-freezing temperatures leading to whiteout conditions.

Police in North Caldwell warned of downed tree limbs and the collapse of flat roofs due to the heavy and wet snow. Montclair Ambulance Unit said its special operations center is monitoring the pending storm and will issue updates on social media and MVAU.org

The National Weather Service today issued a blizzard warning starting at 1 p.m. on Monday for the entire New York metropolitan area, including Essex, Bergen and other New Jersey counties.

The warning calls for at least two feet of snow in North Jersey, with up to three feet in New York City east to Long Island. The storm will have north winds of 30-40 miles per hour, with gusts up to 65 miles per hour and one-quarter-mile visibility at times.

The worst of the storm will take place Monday evening into Tuesday, and the combination of heavy snow and high winds may lead to falling tree limbs and downed power lines, making some secondary and tertiary roads impassable.