In anticipation of the severe winter weather expected to arrive in New Jersey Tuesday night into Wednesday, Gov. Chris Christie declared a State of Emergency, authorizing the state director of emergency management to continue coordinating the preparation, response and recovery efforts for the storm with all county and municipal emergency operations and governmental agencies.
Christie also authorized the closing of state offices on Wednesday, Feb. 5, for all non-essential employees.
“Tonight’s winter weather is expected to produce snow and ice, creating hazardous travel conditions and affecting areas throughout the state that are already recovering from yesterday’s storm,” Christie said. “I’ve authorized state officials to continue all necessary actions to assist, and my administration will continue monitoring conditions throughout the remainder of the storm. I encourage all New Jerseyans to drive carefully and remain off the roads if possible so that our first responders and public safety officials can safely respond to any emergency situations.”
A potential mixture of hazardous travel conditions, fallen trees, power outages and flooding are anticipated.
NJ Transit will cross honor commuter tickets on Wednesday.
The National Weather Service has issued a Winter Weather Advisory for the area until 7 a.m. Wednesday. Snow, sleet and freezing are expected.
Snow and sleet accumulations are expected to be only up to 1 inch but that could be topped with a one- to two-tenths of an inch layer of ice.
Sleet and snow are expected around midnight, will change to sleet and freezing rain overnight into early Wednesday morning and then will change to rain, which should end by early afternoon, according to the weather service.
The next batch of snow could fall over the weekend.
