If you’re a kid, it’s time to rejoice.
For everyone else, it’s time to batten down the hatches.
The National Weather Service is predicting 8″-12″ of snow for our area on Thursday, February 9, with potential for freezing and icy conditions as temperatures drop overnight, with gusts of wind and heavy snow. It will all make for slippery and near white-out conditions during the commuting hours into early afternoon on Thursday.
See the National Weather Service forecast for Newark, NJ here.
Public and private schools around the state have already announced closures for Feb. 9 — including South Orange-Maplewood School District and Millburn Public Schools.
In addition:
- the State of New Jersey has declared all state offices closed for all non-essential employees
- Essex County Executive Joseph N. DiVincenzo put out a robo-call informing residents to remove their parked cars from county roads so that the roads can be plowed
- NJ TRANSIT issued plans to operate regular weekday rail service subject to adjustments due to winter weather conditions. System-wide cross-honoring will be in effect on NJ TRANSIT bus, rail, and light rail.
- All on-street overnight parking has been suspended in Maplewood.
- South Orange has canceled Senior Bus Service for February 9 (to resume on Friday weather permitting) and all Jitney Commuter Service.
- In South Orange, all vehicles with On-Street parking permits must move their vehicle(s) to the nearest municipal lot or the Third Street Garage to allow for snow plowing. All enforcement will be suspended during the storm. Any parking requests or issues should be called into the So Police Dept at 973.763.3000.
- Essex County has declared a Code Blue activation to bring homeless in from the extreme cold weather and snow.
- The South Mountain YMCA Early Childhood Learning Center will have a delayed opening of 9 a.m. The Y is also offering Snow Camp from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. for children grades K-5 unless a snow emergency is declared. Click here for the registration form.
The change from record warmth on Wednesday to heavy, wet snow on Thursday will “weigh down trees and bring down power lines,” according John Latka, senior vice president of electric and gas operations for PSE&G. “We have additional personnel scheduled and on standby, with extra tree crews and equipment at the ready. We’re prepared for whatever the storm brings our way.”
In advance of the storm, PSE&G is advising customers to prepare an emergency kit that includes:
- Water, one gallon of water per person per day for at least three days
- Food, at least a three-day supply of non-perishable food
- Battery-powered or hand crank radio
- Flashlight and extra batteries
- First aid kit
- Manual can opener for food
- Cell phone with chargers
Any downed wires or power outages, should be reported to PSE&G’s Customer Service line at 1-800-436-PSEG. Also, customers can report outages by logging into their PSE&G account online or by texting “OUT” to 4PSEG (47734). The utility’s mobile-friendly website includes an “Outage Map” that is updated every 15 minutes and displays the location and status of power outages in PSE&G’s service area.
Essex County’s Code Blue procedures will be in effect from Wednesday, February 8 at 4 p.m. to Friday, February 10 at 9 a.m. A list of available warming stations and shelters is available on www.NJ211.org and available by dialing 2-1-1.
This story will be updated as more information becomes available.
