A Life-threatening Blast of Cold Air Could Hit New Jersey. Here’s What You Need to Know

A blast of brutally cold air moving toward the East Coast might keep New Jersey from getting a big snowstorm, but the winds could make it feel like 0 degrees outside.

Wednesday, AccuWeather meteorologists warned of very cold weather across the middle of the country. The Garden State will be the next place to experience “life-threatening cold air” that will last until the end of the week.

In a warning updated Wednesday, AccuWeather said, “The cold air will be painful, dangerous, and damaging in some places.”

Light snow was expected to fall in some parts of South Jersey on Wednesday, and Cape May was supposed to get an inch or two of snow by Thursday morning. Learn more about the dangerously cold weather and when it’s supposed to get warmer.

This week, how cold will it be in New Jersey?

AccuWeather says that on Thursday morning, the “ReelFeel Temperature” in New Jersey will be between 0 and 10 degrees. This is a term they use to describe how it really feels outside, taking into account a number of factors.

According to a report from the National Weather Service on Wednesday afternoon, Thursday temperatures across the whole state won’t go above the mid-20s. With wind gusts between 25 and 35 mph, it will feel more like the teens. In the Poconos and farther north, wind chills will be close to 10 degrees.

AccuWeather tells people to make sure they are properly dressed before going outside to keep from getting frostbite or cold.

This weekend, the harsh Arctic air should start to ease off. The sun should come out again, and the winds should die down. In South Jersey, it will be above freezing for the first time in a few days on Friday, and in North Jersey, it will be above freezing by Saturday.

It was cold in New Jersey?

Even though it’s very cold outside, New Jersey has had some extremely low temperatures. It’s not a surprise that February was the coldest month.

Based on state records, February 1934 was the coldest month ever. The average temperature in New Jersey that month was 17.2 degrees. The official record low temperature in New Jersey was 34 degrees below zero in River Vale. This was confirmed by David Robinson, the state climatologist.

Planetmaps.com says that on February 16, 1943, the temperature in Newfoundland, a town in West Milford, was 25 below zero, which was the record low. On February 9, 1967, Sussex Borough had a temperature of 23 below zero.

Why are the high and low temperatures in NJ in February mostly the same?

It doesn’t look like New Jersey will break any records, but the temperatures that are expected—not counting the wind chills that make it feel even colder—are different from what is normal for this time of year.

Where you live in New Jersey, the usual high temperature in February is somewhere between the upper 30s and the mid-40s. Weatherspark.com says that the average low temperature in Sussex County is 22 and the average low temperature in Salem County is 29.

The Office of the NJ State Climatologist at Rutgers University says that across the whole state of New Jersey, February high temperatures are an average of 40.4 degrees. Records have been kept since 1895.

As the graph shows, the average low temperature in New Jersey over those 131 years was 21.9 degrees.

About The Author