Beware the ‘refreeze': Many icy spots Thursday morning across NJ
The abundant snow melt this week has an unfortunate side effect: subfreezing temperatures have turned puddles and wet surfaces into sheets of ice.
As morning temperatures fell into the teens and 20s across New Jersey, many puddles and pools of slush across the Garden State have frozen solid. This obviously presents a very slippery situation to start the day.
Luckily, as the sun rises and temperatures warm, the ice will melt - hopefully by mid-morning or so. Thursday's weather will be otherwise calm and seasonable, with mostly to partly sunny skies and highs in the lower to mid 40s.
The cycle repeats tonight, although to a lesser extent. Temperatures won't be as cold - only upper 20s - so some puddles may stay liquid tonight.
New Jersey will end up between a rock and a hard place on Friday... Well, actually, between two storm systems. The stronger of which will stay off-shore... While I wouldn't rule out a shower along the coast from this system, models have been consistent for days about keeping any precipitation away from New Jersey.
The second storm system slides to our north. I've been going against the models for days, suggesting a light shower may fall over New Jersey for Friday afternoon and evening. Finally, the NAM and GFS have caught up to this idea of a few snowflakes and raindrops on Friday. Again, nothing heavy and no accumulation.
Wind gusts on Friday may also reach 40 mph.
The weekend looks quiet and pretty nice by late January standards. We will enjoy mostly sunny skies on Saturday with highs around 40 degrees. Sunday's forecast adds a few clouds to the sky, but bumps high temperatures up to the upper 40s in North Jersey and lower 50s in South Jersey.
Our next storm system of any real significant will be Wednesday, at the earliest. This one is complicated - for now, it looks like some frozen precipitation on Wednesday morning, followed by a band of very heavy rain Wednesday evening. It's way too early for more detail or a higher confidence forecast. Just know we'll be watching it through the weekend and beyond.