White, Wet Christmas: Snow, Rain Will Hit New Jersey This Week, And Next

It’s beginning to look a lot like a white and wet - and even icy - Christmas.

As many as three major storms that could deliver snow, ice, rain and thunderstorms in New Jersey and Pennsylvania will hit this week and Christmas week.

A weekend storm could drop three inches of snow in North Jersey and that snow will likely remain on the ground come Christmas, AccuWeather meteorologists say.

The National Weather Service is displaying a map (see with story) that shows New Jersey on Saturday at 7 p.m., with snow hitting Monmouth County and north, and a winter mix hitting South Jersey, the Shore and eastern Pennsylvania.

The next two show snow hitting the area on Sunday morning and then, again, on Sunday night.

“While details including timing, track and exact precipitation type for the storms have yet to be determined, the storms will bring enough precipitation to slow travel as they move along,” according Alex Sosnowski, Expert Senior Meteorologist for AccuWeather.com.

The first storm is expected to hit New Jersey and Pennsylvania on Sunday and run north. The storm is expected to strengthen but it is unknown how for north the storm will travel.

A second, albeit weaker storm is expected to bring snow and freezing rain from Washington, D.C., to Boston early next week. If the storm becomes stronger, it could unload heavy snow through New Jersey with wind and freezing rain on the coast.

Yet another storm is expected to hit just before Christmas.

According to Long-Range Expert Mark Paquette, “While not all of these storms will be a snow threat for the major travel hubs in the Midwest and Northeast, there does not have to be arctic air in place for them to bring at least some snow and ice problems.”

Weather Channel Meteorologist Ari Sarsalar said the forecasts show the strong possibility of a messy Christmas.

“There is going to be a powerful storm system in either the central or eastern part of the country,” he said, “that has the potential to drop a lot of rain and maybe even a lot of snow.

Graphics courtesy of AccuWeather.com. Tony Schinella contributed to this story.

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