NJ weather: NJ Transit suspended at Middletown, floods, outages, school closings

7:16 A.M. UPDATE: There have been at least one school closing and one delayed opening along the Jersey Shore Friday morning.

The Long Beach Island Consolidated School District announced a 2-hour delayed opening on its website.

The Communications High School, part of the Monmouth County Vocational School District, is closed Friday "due to the loss of power," according to the district's website.

Roads in Ship Bottom and Long Beach were flooding according to electronic alerts from agencies in those towns.

Interstate 195 had begun to back up at Exit 7 heading west on account of volume, according to the state's traffic monitoring website.

Thousands of Jersey Shore residents were without power, according to Jersey Central Power & Light's outage map.

6:38 A.M. UPDATE: The North Jersey Coast Line is suspended in both directions "due to downed overhead wires at Middletown," according to New Jersey Transit's website. Gladstone Branch service is suspended for the day.

New Jersey Transit predicts "up to 30-minute delays system-wide due to weather-related conditions." Cross-honoring in effect.

The Outerbridge Crossing and Goethals Bridge are moving at 30 miles per hour due to weather, according to the state's traffic monitoring website.

Route 36 was closed in both directions south of Sandy Hook in Sea Bright on account of downed wires.

12:30 A.M. UPDATE: Jersey Central Power & Light reports there are more than a thousand customers without electricity in Ocean County and almost 900 customers without electricity in Monmouth County at this time.

A total of 2,956 JCP&L customers are without electricity statewide, with Ocean and Monmouth counties impacted the worst.

12:19 A.M. UPDATE: In the past 24 hours, the New Jersey State Police has responded to at least 555 motor vehicle crashes and to more than a thousand motorists in need of assistance — anything from spinouts, flat tires, mechanical breakdowns and other issues, according to a statement from the agency.

The State Police are now urging the public to stay home so road crews can treat road surfaces overnight.

"If you have to go out, please drive slowly and allow for more time to get where you are going," the State Police said in the statement.

11:10 UPDATE: NJ Transit will operate regular weekday service for Friday. Customers should expect delays and potential cancellations due to residual effects of the storm.

Gladstone Branch rail services will be suspended. NJ Transit bus, rail and light rail tickets and passes are being cross-honored system-wide along with private carrier buses.

Commuters are strongly advised to build in extra travel time and visit njtransit.com, access NJ Transit’s Twitter feed at @NJTRANSIT or listen to broadcast traffic reports. Additionally, NJ Transit will provide the most current service information via the My Transit alert system (www.njtransit.com/mytransit), which delivers travel advisories to your smartphone. Service information is also available by calling 973-275-5555.

Listen closely to public address announcements at stations for late-breaking service information.

Build additional travel time into your trip to a station, terminal or bus stop.

Stairs, flooring and platforms can be slippery, so please use caution when walking along wet surfaces or any outdoor surface exposed to the weather. Use extra care when boarding or exiting buses and trains.

Report slippery or unsafe conditions at stations or stops to bus operators, train crews or NJ Transit staff.

If you park, ensure your car is stocked with a snow brush and ice scraper so you can clear your car upon returning to the lot.

10:30 UPDATE: The National Weather Service in Mount Holly has issued a wind advisory for Monmouth and Ocean counties until 6 a.m. Friday. Winds are blowing east at 25 to 35 mph with gusts of up to 55 mph.

The strongest winds should be expected overnight. The winds should diminish somewhat toward daybreak, before increasing again from the northwest and west on Friday morning, according to the NWS.

Strong winds may blow down trees, tree limbs and utility lines. Scattered power outages should be anticipated, the NWS advisory read.

The winds will make driving difficult, especially for those motorists who operate large vehicles. Use extra caution.

At home, outdoor objects such as patio furniture and garbage cans should be

secured, all according to the advisory.

7:40 UPDATE: The Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan is essentially shut down as limited vehicles are able to get there, causing severe overcrowding. Commuters are urged to use the train or ferry.

The state Department of Transportation is enforcing speed restrictions on the Garden State Parkway and the New Jersey Turnpike from the New York State border to the Delaware Memorial Bridge.

Those of you who had Montague Township in the “most snow” office pool, it looks like you picked a winner. Everyone hold your slips, please, this is not yet official. #noreaster #njwx cc: @AsburyParkPress @northjersey pic.twitter.com/ySG4oPuKhB — Russ Zimmer 🦃🍠🥧 (@RussZimmer) November 16, 2018

6:47 UPDATE: Maximum wind gust forecasts have increased for Cape May, coastal Atlantic, coastal Ocean, and southern coastal Monmouth counties. Maximum wind gusts may reach over 50 mph until 11 p.m. tonight, according to the New Jersey Office of Emergency Management.

All state government offices were closed at 2:30 p.m. due to the storm and all state employees, with the exception of those deemed as non-essential personnel, were sent home.

Multiple stalled cars on Garden State Parkway heading south @northjersey pic.twitter.com/djNHKTitmR — Svetlana Shkolnikova (@svetashko) November 15, 2018

6:30 UPDATE: A winter weather advisory is in effect for western Monmouth County until 9 p.m. Thursday. Wet snow has mixed with sleet and freezing rain — which will gradually change to regular rain through the mid-evening hours. Additional snow and sleet accumulations of up to one inch are possible. Winds are gusting up to 45 mph. Expect slippery road conditions. The hazardous situation out there has impacted the evening commute; drive extra cautiously tonight when going home from work. Avoid being on the roads for any other reason. The gusty winds can bring down tree branches.

6:23 UPDATE: The Long Beach Township Police Department advises caution to all motorists on Long Beach Island due to high winds and gusts of up to 50 mph. Beware of possible debris on the roads.

6:05 UPDATE: Roads in western Monmouth County are still snow-covered, including Route 34 in Colts Neck. A portion of the state highway appears not to have been plowed. Secondary roads throughout Colts Neck have not been plowed as of this time.

3:12 UPDATE: The National Weather Service has released estimated snow totals for three towns in Monmouth County: Two inches in Keyport and Matawan, and one inch in Middetown as of 2:34 p.m.

2:38 P.M. UPDATE: Howell roads are covered in an inch of slush and precipitation in Neptune had turned to freezing rain.

Two inches of snow had fallen in portions of Manalapan as well as Jackson..

The Ocean County Sheriff's Department advised drivers to allow extra travel time as roads around the county were slick.

With temperatures dropping fast, conditions that are not already icy and dangerous are expected to become so soon.

12:30 P.M. UPDATE: Snow expectations have been raised to as much as 7 inches for pockets of northern New Jersey, according to the National Weather Service in New York City. Ice and gusting winds will make a bad situation worse.

An advisory has been elevated to a winter storm warning for parts or all of Union, Essex, Bergen, Passaic, Warren, Sussex and Morris counties. The warning expires at 10 p.m.

EARLIER: Twenty-four hours of snow, sleet, rain and the occasional power outage has has begun in New Jersey as a moisture-rich nor'easter is passing by just offshore.

LOCAL SPOTLIGHT: Nor'easter to slam Monmouth, Ocean with heavy rain, wind

A trio of alerts from the National Weather Service warning of poor driving conditions, flooding and damaging winds will kick in at various points today, representing the myriad threats the storm is expected to bring to the Garden State.

The first snowflakes began falling in areas of south Jersey earlier this morning and the white stuff should reach Bergen and Essex counties by early afternoon.

The nor'easter will be the first blast of snow for most of New Jersey, although it is unlikely to stick in the state's southern half.

INCH COUNTS: Snow and rain nor'easter projections, totals for Shore towns

"As it so often is, that I-95 corridor is a dividing line between snow and rain," said Ray Kruzdlo, a senior service hydrologist at the National Weather Service station in Mount Holly. "It looks like this will be no different than that."

Among the assorted types of precipitation is freezing rain, which slickens roads and drag down power lines.

"Some of these areas at risk include southeastern Pennsylvania, the valleys of northern New Jersey and part of the lower Hudson Valley of New York," AccuWeather meteorologist Dave Samuhel said in a post on their website this morning.

"The risk is greatest where there still some leaves on the trees and in heavily-wooded areas," Samuhel said.

A flood watch kicked in for most of the Jersey Shore at 10 a.m. Some locations could be looking at more than 2 inches of rain, which will be competing with fallen leaves for access to storm water drains. That could lead to some roadside pooling.

Air temperatures there will stay far enough above freezing to keep the precipitation in liquid form for the most part. Not so for north Jersey and the interior counties.

North of the New Jersey Turnpike, today will be spent under the freezing point until this evening, when the temperature will start to rise and the snow will transition to rain.

When that will occur exactly is the million-dollar question.

“That’s always the most difficult to forecast, and you can thank the Atlantic Ocean for that (and) the time of year too,” Kruzdlo told the USA Today Network-New Jersey.

Unfortunately, the timing of the storm will only make things worse on commuters this evening.

Some of the heaviest precipitation will coincide with the evening drivetime and winds will grow in power as the day goes on.

“While I’m not going to say it’s impossible, the majority of accumulations are not going to be on the heavily traveled roads," Kruzdlo said. "It’ll be on your car, on grass and side roads.

By nightfall, gusts will reach 50 mph and stronger on the shoreline and barrier islands. The NWS's wind advisory starts at 3 p.m.

The precipitation will continue overnight, but temperatures will have gradually warmed up enough that the snow and sleet in norther Jersey will transition to rain.

"(The snow) may never changeover (to rain) in spots in northwest Jersey, in the highest elevations," Kruzdlo said. "People will be waking up to snow (there).”

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Russ Zimmer: 732-557-5748, razimmer@app.com, @russzimmer