The most significant Christmas Day winter storm since 1966 affected the northern half of New Jersey with a wintry mix of snow, sleet, freezing rain and rain. This mix changed back to snow on Christmas Day and dropped up to around one foot of snow across northwest New Jersey. Precipitation began as light snow toward midnight on Christmas Eve. As the northeaster moved northeast along the eastern seaboard, warmer air from the Atlantic and the south warmed the air between 3,000 and 8,000 feet above ground level. This changed precipitation over to sleet and freezing rain.Then as warmer air moved in near the ground precipitation changed to plain rain across much of northern New Jersey by 9 a.m. EST on Christmas Day. The only exception was in Sussex County where most temperatures remained below freezing. Around two-tenths of an inch of ice accrued on exposed surfaces. The northeaster was in the process of intensifying rapidly along the Middle Atlantic seaboard and both its precipitation intensity and coverage increased rapidly across the state during the second half of the morning. In fact, a SKYWARN Spotter in Sussex County reported a thundersleet storm from 1040 a.m. through 1055 a.m. EST on Christmas morning. As precipitation intensity increased and winds started to shift from the northeast to north, precipitation started to change to all snow. This began in Sussex County between 11 a.m. and Noon EST and moved southeast during the afternoon across the rest of the northern half of the state. Precipitation changed back to snow around 1 p.m. EST in Somerville (Somerset County) and Trenton (Mercer County) and between 3 and 5 p.m. EST in Monmouth County. The heaviest snow fell during the afternoon and lessened in intensity during the evening. The snow ended around Midnight Christmas night.Most travelers made plans around the storm and while there were accidents, no major congestion was reported. The worst reported traveling problems were along Interstate 78 in Warren County, Interstate 287 in Morris County and eastbound Interstate 280 which was down to one lane along the Morris/Essex county border because the other lanes buckled and collapsed. With respect to the snow, the worst problems were in Sussex County where the combination of ice and then heavy wet snow snapped tree limbs and downed power lines. Several vehicles also skidded into utility poles. About 7,000 Jersey Central Power and Light customers lost power in northern New Jersey. The number was down to 650 the morning of the 26th.    Specific accumulations included 14 inches in High Point (Sussex County), 12 inches in Wantage (Sussex County), 11.7 inches in Barry Lakes (Sussex County), 11 inches in Vernon (Sussex County) and Washington Township (Morris County), 10 inches in Hackettstown (Warren County), 9.7 inches in Newton (Sussex County), 7.0 inches in Hope (Warren County), 7.0 inches in Jefferson Township (Morris County), 6.6 inches in Chatham (Morris County), 6.0 inches in Lebanon (Hunterdon County), 5.3 inches in Somerville (Somerset County), 4.7 inches in Clinton (Hunterdon County), 4.5 inches in Millstone Township (Monmouth County), 4.0 inches in New Egypt (Ocean County), 3.5 inches in New Brunswick (Middlesex County), 3.2 inches in Belle Mead (Somerset County), 3 inches in Ewing (Mercer County), 2.5 inches in Princeton (Mercer County).The northeaster that produced the tidal flooding moved from Mississippi the morning of the 24th to near Norfolk the morning of the 25th to just west of Atlantic City during the afternoon of the 25th to south of Nova Scotia the morning of the 26th.

Winter Storm in WARREN, NEW JERSEY
From 24-DEC-02 22:00:00 to 25-DEC-02 23:00:00 (EST)
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

Winter Storm in SUSSEX, NEW JERSEY
From 25-DEC-02 00:00:00 to 25-DEC-02 23:00:00 (EST)
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

Winter Weather in MIDDLESEX, NEW JERSEY
From 24-DEC-02 22:00:00 to 26-DEC-02 00:30:00 (EST)
Reported by: NEWSPAPER

Winter Weather in HUNTERDON, NEW JERSEY
From 24-DEC-02 22:00:00 to 26-DEC-02 00:00:00 (EST)
Reported by: NEWSPAPER

Winter Weather in MERCER, NEW JERSEY
From 24-DEC-02 22:00:00 to 26-DEC-02 00:30:00 (EST)
Reported by: NEWSPAPER

Winter Weather in SOMERSET, NEW JERSEY
From 24-DEC-02 23:00:00 to 26-DEC-02 00:00:00 (EST)
Reported by: NEWSPAPER

Winter Weather in WESTERN MONMOUTH, NEW JERSEY
From 24-DEC-02 23:00:00 to 26-DEC-02 00:30:00 (EST)
Reported by: NEWSPAPER

Winter Storm in MORRIS, NEW JERSEY
From 24-DEC-02 22:00:00 to 25-DEC-02 23:50:00 (EST)
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER