77K Powerless Monday As Blizzard Bashes NJ

More than 77, 000 customers were without power Sunday night as a massive winter storm plowed into the Garden State with heavy snow and high winds.

At 2 a.m. JCP&L had 50, 162 reported outages spread mostly across the shore regions. Atlantic City Electric reported 23, 303 customers were impacted by the storm with 1,090 active outages as of 1:55 a.m. At 2:05 a.m. PSE&G reported 3, 597 customers impacted across 173 outages.

And the worst of the storm is yet to come.

All 21 New Jersey counties remain under a blizzard warning, as are surrounding areas.

NJ Transit suspended all bus, light rail and access link services starting at 6 p.m. on Sunday, and make an announcement about any train adjustments later in the evening and schools across the state are closing.
Gov. Mikie Sherrill issued a State of Emergency starting at noon on Sunday.

Later in the day, she announced a mandatory travel restriction from 9 p.m. Sunday to 7 a.m. Monday.

"This is a very serious storm and I urge all residents to stay inside and stay safe," she said in a social media post.

While most public schools held off on announcing closings, some colleges, like Hudson County Community College, announced remote classes, and others closed.

The New Jersey Turnpike is exempt from the restriction, which also does not apply to certain first response and emergency personnel, critically ill people seeking care, or travel necessary to maintain essential services, according to the state's Office of Emergency Management.
Shortly after noon, Sherrill implemented speed restrictions and travel bans.

“I am announcing speed restriction of 35 miles-per-hour, which will take effect at 3 p.m.,” Sherrill said. “A commercial vehicle ban will also take effect at 3 p.m. today on all our highways.”

The commercial vehicle travel restriction will be for the following highways in both directions:

• I-76 (entire length)
• I-78 (entire length)
• I-80 (entire length)
• I-195 (entire length)
• I-280 (entire length)
• I-287 (entire length)
• I-295 (entire length)
• I-676 (entire length)

The commercial vehicle travel restriction applies to:

• All tractor trailers
• Empty straight CDL-weighted trucks
• Passenger vehicles pulling trailers
• Recreational vehicles
• Motorcycles

This restriction DOES NOT apply to:

• The New Jersey Turnpike
• The Garden State Parkway
• The Atlantic City Expressway
• Public safety vehicles, sworn and civilian public safety personnel; as well as other personnel directly supporting healthcare facilities or critical infrastructure such as providing fuel or food.

A storm like this hasn’t been seen in years, officials said.

Forecasters say that coastal counties could see snow accumulations of 18-24 inches and wind gusts as high as 60 MPH.

The warning covers 1 p.m. Sunday through 6 p.m. on Monday.

"Record breaking snow totals are possible," the NWS said.