NJ Weather Update: Latest Snow Forecast Changes

One storm won't be much of anything. Another storm could be worse than expected. That's how weather forecasters view the two potential snowfalls expected for New Jersey this week.

The National Weather Service has issued a hazardous weather outlook for the entire state before some snow comes to New Jersey on Tuesday. The roads could be slippery enough to make the Thursday morning commute challenging.

The weather could lead to some school closings and delayed openings. Read more: New Jersey School Closings/Delays List - 1/30/18

But the snowfall is expected to be much less significant than what was originally predicted. Most of the state will get barely an inch - if anything at all - after 5 a.m. on Tuesday.

Another storm, meanwhile, is expected for Groundhog Day on Friday and forecasters are saying that system could be bigger than original expected. Forecasters say it's too early to predict the exact impact.

Snow and the risk of slippery travel is expected to ramp up for Groundhog Day as a storm from the Ohio Valley arrives, according to an AccuWeather release. The potential exists for a more far-reaching swath of snow to arrive later in the week with frigid air to follow.

"The storm may spread wintry weather over a large area from the lower Midwest states to the Northeast," AccuWeather Meteorologist Brian Thompson said in the release.

While precise details of the storm will be worked out in the coming days, the storm can lay enough snow to shovel or plow and cause disruptions during the first two days of February, according to the release.

Some of the details that need to be hammered out with this storm include how strong the storm will be, how fast it will move and how far south the cold air will get, Thompson said in the release.

Here is the forecast:

• Monday: Mostly cloudy, with a high near 45. Northeast wind around 10 mph.
• Monday night: Cloudy, with a low around 29. North wind 6 to 8 mph.
• Tuesday: Snow likely, mainly between 3pm and 5pm. Cloudy, with a high near 37. Light north wind becoming northwest 8 to 13 mph in the morning. Winds could gust as high as 25 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible.
• Tuesday night: Mostly cloudy, then gradually becoming mostly clear, with a low around 19. Northwest wind 8 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 29 mph.
• Wednesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 33. Light and variable wind becoming southwest 5 to 7 mph in the afternoon.
• Wednesday night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 27.
• Thursday: Mostly cloudy, with a high near 45.
• Thursday night: A chance of rain before 10pm, then a chance of rain and snow between 10pm and 1am, then a chance of snow after 1am. Cloudy, with a low around 30. Chance of precipitation is 50%.
• Friday: A chance of snow before 1pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 36. Chance of precipitation is 30%.
• Friday night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 16.

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