Chilly weather remains entrenched through tomorrow

Just two days ago, parts of New Jersey were approaching 80 degrees. Then yesterday, a strong cold front came through and gave most of the region minor accumulations of snow and sleet! Newark Airport officially recorded 0.4″ of snow, LaGuardia Airport had 0.3″, New Brunswick, NJ had 0.2″, and Freehold, NJ reported 1.5″ of snow.

The cold airmass responsible for the snowfall will remain entrenched for the rest of the afternoon, tonight, and tomorrow, as a cold high pressure system slowly slides eastward. It was to our northwest last night and this morning, which brought in strong northwesterly winds from Canada — its gradual approach shifted our winds to northerly, which is actually an even colder wind direction, keeping our highs in the 40s this afternoon. The winds have calmed a bit throughout the day, but are still blustery — however, as the high pressure continues to get closer, we will be directly underneath it, where winds are much calmer. Thus, we expect winds to keep getting calmer and be very light during the evening.

Today's high resolution NAM model shows temperatures falling to around freezing for tonight's overnight lows (PSU E-Wall).

Today’s high resolution NAM model shows temperatures falling to around freezing for tonight’s overnight lows (PSU E-Wall).

The initially calmer winds will feel nice; however, calm winds and clear skies associated with the high pressure — especially in a cold and dry airmass — lead to radiational cooling conditions. This will allow temperatures to quickly drop into the 30s this evening. As the night goes on, the high pressure will slide to the east of us, which puts us back into the flow of wind — this time, out of the northeast, so winds will increase to around 10mph as the night goes on.

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