New Jersey Weather: State Of Emergency In Effect As Wintry Mix Settles In
FORDS, N.J. (CBSNewYork) - A state of emergency was in effect in New Jersey on Tuesday as a blustery, wintry mix of snow, ice and rain moved into the Tri-State area.
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All state offices were closed, and non-essential employees were told not to come in to work.
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New Jersey State Police said they had responded to about 100 accidents and 200 motorist calls for help Tuesday morning. The Department of Transportation issued a winter weather congestion alert, with the state ready to respond to messy conditions on the road as temperatures dipped.
"The afternoon commute will likely be a slow slog," Gov. Phil Murphy said at a briefing Tuesday morning. "Roads will remain slick with any residual ice and freezing rain."
Murphy said the anticipated snow totals had dropped, but urged people to take it slow and move with caution, especially on the roads.
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The majority of New Jersey was under a winter storm warning or advisory.
"Thankfully we've only seen isolated power outages in relation to the storm," Murphy said.
Murphy urged residents who lose power to call it in to their electric companies and to not assume their neighbors have done so.
"Although we've gotten through the morning mostly unscathed, there's still some wintry weather ahead of us. Let there be no doubt, you can just look out these windows and see it," Murphy said. "People should remain cautious about travel for the remainder of the day and evening. Don't get lulled into a false sense of security. Please exercise your common sense."
Officials urged motorists not to try to pass plowing vehicles.
Murphy was asked whether, since the November storm snarled traffic in the region, he'd been applying "a ton of prevention for a pound of cure."
"We're doing postmortems after every one of these," Murphy said. "One constant theme, given that public safety is at stake here, and given that Mother Nature is not an exact science, we're going to be safe than sorry. That's just going to be our M.O."