The first snow of the season at the Jersey Shore is usually something to smile about. It’s light and fun. Maybe just a few flakes in the air or a quick snow shower that melts fast. It makes you think of cozy things: a warm fire, snow on the sand at the beach, or a surprise day off from school or work.
At two weather stations near the Jersey Shore – Atlantic City International Airport and Lower Township – the first snow average is 1.6 inches deep. That’s not much. Most people think it’s more fun than trouble.
However, sometimes the first snow is a big surprise.
Four times at Atlantic City International, and three times in Lower Township, the very first snowy day of the season dropped more than 6 inches. That’s a lot for the first one.
I love snow any time, but a huge first snow can catch everyone off guard. It’s like playing a big game without warming up, or running a race in brand-new shoes. Nobody is ready yet. Meteorologists might miss a forecasting tidbit. Road crews might not put out enough salt and plows. Drivers forget to go slow and careful like they do later in winter. That makes slippery roads extra dangerous.
On average the first real snow at the Jersey Shore waits until the second half of December. However, there are a few times in weather history when snow has been noteworthy and early.
December 5, 2002
In 2002 the first snow of the season at the Jersey Shore was a nor’easter that dropped more than 6 inches of snow.
Every county in New Jersey had snow, according to NOAA. An area of low pressure developed on a frontal boundary along the Gulf Coast states. Eventually, that low pressure moved through the Southeastern United States, went off the North Carolina coast and quickly raced northeast, according to Raymond C. Martin Jr. It was a nor’easter.
Snowfall totals were sizeable:
- 7.6 inches in Estell Manor, Atlantic County
- 7.0 inches in Hammonton, Atlantic County
- 6.0 inches in Woodbine, Cape May County
- 5.5 inches in Green Creek, Cape May County
- 5.0 inches at Atlantic City International Airport
Perhaps more impressive was that these totals were greater than the snow seen the entire previous winter in much of South Jersey. This was in the middle of a long stretch of colder-than-average temperatures. The snow that fell took six days to fully melt across the area as high temperatures stayed below 35 degrees nearly every day from Dec. 4 to Dec. 10.
November 30, 1967
Before 2002, you had to go back 35 years to experience a first winter storm as significant for the Jersey Shore.
At ACY Airport 7.8 inches of snow fell, the second largest leading snowfall of the season on record (a late start in 2022 was higher). Lower Township experienced 3.0 inches of snow.
This snow engulfed much of the Mid-Atlantic. A Baltimore Sun headline proclaimed: “Near Record November Snowfall Catches City Without Its Plows.”
November 6, 1953
This is one of the largest first snows on record, and one of the earliest, too. Snow spread from western North Carolina to New England.
This wasn’t a 100% snowstorm; 3.2 inches of snow at ACY Airport mixed with a total of 3.98 inches of precipitation. In essence, about 10% of the precipitation that fell was snow. Still, it counts.
Places farther south saw less snow mixed in. By the time you went to Lower Township, the storm was all rain. The Cape May Bubble was still alive and well then, too.
The New York Times wrote that New York’s highways were covered in an icy sheen and many motorists going upstate had to sleep overnight in their cars.
The storm was tropical at first. It was a tropical depression that moved across Florida. It then transitioned from a warm-core, tropical storm, into a cold-core, nor’easter. Ready for the storm was a huge mass of cold air in the Northeastern United States. That turned what was warm rain into some snow.
December 8, 1928
The third biggest first snow of the season in Lower Township’s long stretch of weather records (back to 1897), was a pure snowmaker, even at the immediate coast.
Lower Township saw 9.6 inches of snow on 0.80 inches of precipitation, according to NOAA. That’s a snow ratio of 12:1, meaning this wasn’t a sloppy, wet mess of snow, either.
ACY Airport wasn’t around yet. However, Atlantic City kept snow records then and they were blanketed in 3.9 inches of snow. High temperatures stayed in the 30s for the next two days after that, keeping the snow on the ground, too.
Archive weather maps from NOAA show that this was a coastal storm. Low pressure the morning of Dec. 8 was roughly 40 degrees north latitude, and 75 degrees west longitude. Today, that’s known as the “benchmark,” or the position coastal storms should cross to bring at least some snow to the coast. Winds were from the north or northeast at the Jersey Shore, pumping in the icy air.
Thanksgiving Day, 1912
Talk about cold turkey. Nov. 28, 1912, brought a statewide blanket of snowfall, delivering a rare “White Thanksgiving.” In fact, it has an argument to claim a spot as the snowiest Thanksgiving on record statewide.
In Lower Township, 4.5 inches fell. In Atlantic City, Northfield and Tuckerton, 4.0 inches fell.
I imagine there were a lot of melted (dirt) roads that turned into ice at night. The days following it were well above freezing during the day, dropping a good bit below freezing at night.
Like the early 1928 snow, this storm was a coastal storm. Known as a Miller A type storm, it began off the Georgia coast. It quickly moved north-northeast, passing almost right at that 40-degree north latitude, 75 degree west longitude benchmark.
What are your snow thoughts?
Love it? Hate it? You want one snow and then that’s it? Drop me a note on social media or email.
Joe Martucci, a certified broadcast meteorologist and digital meteorologist, is also the president and director of meteorology for Cup A Joe Weather and Drone. You can connect with him at cupajoe.live.
