Second major storm dumps on shore towns
A weekend snowstorm dropped double digits on Ocean City and even more on the mainland communities of Somers Point, Linwood and Northfield.
State, local and county officials urged residents to avoid travel during Saturday’s storm as many businesses and municipal sites shut down because of blizzard conditions.
Ocean City was still digging out the downtown Monday morning as Asbury Avenue was blocked off to allow front-end loaders to clear the snow by loading it into dump trucks. Mayor Jay Gillian said on Sunday public works crews were working around the clock since Saturday to handle the blizzard and were forced to truck snow to parking lots because there was no place else to put it.
The storm began quietly Friday night and flakes were just starting to appear past 7:30 p.m. as the boys basketball game at Ocean City High School between the Red Raiders and Lower Cape May Regional Caper Tigers was letting out after going into double overtime.
As spectators made their way home, sleet and snow had begun falling lightly as the evening turned into night Friday. By Saturday morning, everything was under a solid white blanket with frigid temperatures accompanying the storm.
New England took the brunt of the storm on the chin, with as much as 2 feet of snow falling in Rhode Island, Boston and much of coastal Massachusetts.
Forecasters predicted pretty accurately that coastal New Jersey would get 12 to 18 inches of snow to add to its growing total. Shore points were hit the worst.
Ocean City accumulated 15.5 inches, Marmora got 15 and Linwood measured a whopping 19.
It’s been an unusually snowy 2022 so far. According to NBC10, Ocean City saw 14 inches fall across the island Jan. 3 and another 3.5 on Jan. 7; added to Saturday’s storm, that makes for a total so far of 33 inches. Similar totals have fallen on the mainland in Atlantic and Cape May counties, including Upper Township.
The National Weather Service in Mount Holly reported a reinforcing surge of arctic air engulfed the eastern half of the country.
The National Weather Service confirmed the storm reached blizzard level Friday night and Saturday morning along the coastal strip of New Jersey. A blizzard is defined as three or more hours of visibility reductions to a quarter-mile or less due to falling or blowing snow, and sustained winds or frequent gusts of 35 mph or greater.
At the shore, the temperature plummeted overnight to as low as single digits around dawn Sunday as the area remained under the influence of an arctic high-pressure system.
Across the area, main roads such as Route 9 and the Garden State Parkway were clear and dry for the Monday morning commute. Other than the most heavily-traveled streets, in many communities in Cape May and Atlantic counties, lesser-used streets were still partially covered with snow and ice Monday. In many places, including Ocean City, most vehicles and parking places had been dug out, but roads were still narrow because of the snow that was plowed to the sides.
By CRAIG D. SCHENCK and DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff