Bizarre weather in Central NJ

[RU848789]

Went to sleep at 1 am to steady rain, at 41F, and awoke at 6 am to moderate snow at about 34F, with the snow just starting to accumulate on colder/grassy surfaces. Left for work at 7:45 am (still 34F) with moderate snow still falling and about 1" of snow accumulation on the colder surfaces and even a small, slushy accumulation beginning on some paved surfaces. Then the odd part. While driving the 9 miles to work, directly NE on Route 1, from Metuchen (northern Middlesex County) to Rahway (southern Union County), I noticed rain mixing in when I got to Woodbridge and then when I got to Rahway, it was all rain and there was absolutely no snow on the ground. First time in my 15 years of commuting this route, that I've ever seen more than a miniscule difference between Metuchen and Rahway. And as of 9 am, I just called my wife at home and it's still snowing moderately there, while it's still raining here in Rahway.

Obviously, this made me curious, so I looked up the elevations and temperatures in both towns and found that Metuchen is at 117 feet in elevation (with a high point of 169 feet, but that's not where we are - we're probably around 130 feet) and Rahway is at 20 feet. Then, I looked up the current temps on the internet and it said that Metuchen's at 34F (agrees with my home reading) and Rahway's at 36F. I guess it's the elevation that's causing this huge difference, then.

[JCT777]

I have been hearing of similar oddities regarding the snow across N NJ and NE PA. Very strange, especially considering I am NW of Philly and have not had a temp below 39 degrees all morning.

[RU848789]

I have been hearing of similar oddities regarding the snow across N NJ and NE PA. Very strange, especially considering I am NW of Philly and have not had a temp below 39 degrees all morning.

Actually, this also reminds me of an event from March 2000, I think, in which the Middlesex/Somerset County areas east of Somerville/Piscataway, at the lower elevations, recieved 1-2" of cold rain (with occasional snow mixing in, but not accumulating), while the areas a few miles to the west, that were up on the Watchung ridge and westward of there, at a 200-300 feet higher elevation, got hammered with over a foot of snow. The gradients aren't usually that steep, but it does occur from time to time.

This also reminded me of a time I was in SE Ireland in March of 1996, when the valley town I was in, Clonmel (in County Tipperary) received 2-3" of heavy rain at about 34-35F, with some snow mixed in, but not accumulating. I was very curious about the elevation effect, so I asked some of the locals and they said it almost never snowed in the valley, but the ridges (at 300-1000 feet above the valleys) often got pounded with major snows. So I decided to take a drive up the mountains and when I got about halfway up the rain had changed to an accumulating snow and about another mile up the mountain (maybe a few hundred feet more in elevation) I had to turn around, as there was already 6" of snow on the ground (on narrow, twisting roads with stone walls on the side - bad combo with me driving on the "wrong" side of the road). Turns out, those ridge tops received about 2 feet of snow from that storm and they have no plows, so they were stuck for a few days or they used their tractors, as there are usually only farmers/shepherds at the high elevations.

[Lisa]

Talk about strange weather---it was 82 and sunny here on Friday. Today it is 36 with light snow flurries.....no accumulation..darn!

[PTrackerLA]

It's amazing that only 100 feet higher in elevation can mean the difference between rain and snow.