Below is the recent winter storm watch report for the New Jersey and New York area.

 9:30 PM EST- Monday, January 5, 2009

WINTER STORM WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM TUESDAY EVENING
THROUGH WEDNESDAY MORNING…

A BROAD AREA OF LOW PRESSURE WAS DEVELOPING FROM THE GREAT PLAINS
TO THE SOUTHEASTERN STATES THIS EVENING. THE LOW WILL PROGRESS TO
THE EAST AND IT SHOULD PULL A WARM FRONT TO THE NORTH AND TOWARD
OUR REGION ON TUESDAY AND TUESDAY NIGHT. AS THE PRIMARY LOW MOVES
INTO THE EASTERN GREAT LAKES REGION EARLY ON WEDNESDAY, A
SECONDARY LOW IS FORECAST TO DEVELOP ALONG THE MIDDLE ATLANTIC
COAST. BOTH LOWS ARE ANTICIPATED TO MOVE NORTHEASTWARD, REACHING
ATLANTIC CANADA ON THURSDAY.

PRECIPITATION SHOULD BEGIN TO MOVE UP INTO EASTERN PENNSYLVANIA
AND NORTHERN NEW JERSEY ON TUESDAY AFTERNOON. IT WILL LIKELY
START AS LIGHT SNOW BEFORE IT BECOMES STEADIER ON TUESDAY
EVENING. ON TUESDAY NIGHT, THE SNOW WILL MIX WITH SLEET, THEN
CHANGE TO FREEZING RAIN. THE CHANGE TO FREEZING RAIN SHOULD TAKE
PLACE GRADUALLY FROM SOUTH TO NORTH.

BY DAYBREAK ON WEDNESDAY, MUCH OF EASTERN PENNSYLVANIA AND
NORTHERN NEW JERSEY WILL BE EXPERIENCING FREEZING RAIN.
TEMPERATURES ARE THEN FORECAST TO WARM ABOVE FREEZING ON WEDNESDAY
MORNING IN MUCH OF THE REGION. HOWEVER, POCKETS OF BELOW FREEZING
TEMPERATURES MAY LINGER INTO WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON IN THE POCONOS
AND IN FAR NORTHERN NEW JERSEY.

SNOWFALL AMOUNTS FROM LATE TUESDAY INTO TUESDAY NIGHT ARE
EXPECTED TO RANGE UP TO AN INCH OR TWO BEFORE THE CHANGE TO
FREEZING RAIN. HOWEVER, THE HIGHER ELEVATIONS OF EASTERN
PENNSYLVANIA AND NORTHERN NEW JERSEY COULD RECEIVE UP TO 4 INCHES
OF SNOW.

WITH FREEZING RAIN EXPECTED FOR MUCH OF TUESDAY NIGHT AND EARLY
WEDNESDAY MORNING, UP TO A QUARTER INCH OF ICE MAY ACCUMULATE IN
THE PENNSYLVANIA COUNTIES OF BERKS, CHESTER, MONTGOMERY AND
BUCKS, AND IN THE NEW JERSEY COUNTIES OF HUNTERDON AND SOMERSET.
WITH THE FREEZING RAIN PERSISTING A LITTLE LONGER ON WEDNESDAY IN
PARTS OF THE LEHIGH VALLEY, THE POCONOS AND FAR NORTHERN NEW
JERSEY, SOME LOCATIONS IN THAT REGION COULD RECEIVE UP TO A HALF
INCH OF ICE.

TRAVEL CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED TO BECOME QUITE HAZARDOUS FROM
LATE TUESDAY INTO PART OF WEDNESDAY IN MUCH OF EASTERN
PENNSYLVANIA AND NORTHERN NEW JERSEY. SNOW AND ICE WILL LIKELY
ACCUMULATE ON AREA ROADS AND WALKWAYS.

ALSO, ICE MAY ACCUMULATE ON TREE LIMBS AND POWER LINES FROM
TUESDAY NIGHT INTO WEDNESDAY, POSSIBLY RESULTING IN WIDESPREAD
POWER OUTAGES, ESPECIALLY IN THE POCONOS AND IN FAR NORTHERN NEW
JERSEY.

Below is an interesting article which discusses the Rock Salt shortages expected for the 2009 winter. 

 

Road salt shortage, soaring prices vex states
Public works directors hope to make it through the winter

 

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. – Dave Barber did the math. Now Peoria’s public works director is crossing his fingers and hoping his city has enough road salt to ride out the winter.

The central Illinois city recently paid almost $48 a ton to replenish its rock salt supply, an increase of 30 percent — or $500,000 — over last year. Even so, Barber feels fortunate.

Some towns are paying as much as $170 a ton as salt prices nationwide soar because of shipping problems and surging demand. Hoping for the best — but preparing for the worst — communities are making plans to stretch supplies by mixing salt with sand, brine or even beet juice.

“It’s a balancing act between money and quantity,” said Barber, who expects to mix the city’s salt supply with two parts of sand, effectively cutting the per-ton cost to about $23. “This year, the dollars are going to govern for us, and we’re going to try to live within the budget.”

The Illinois Department of Transportation contracted to buy 687,730 tons of salt at prices ranging from $55 to $140 a ton. Combined with the 172,000 tons left over from last winter, the department has slightly more than what it used last winter, Secretary Milton Sees said.

In New Hampshire, the state expects to pay $2 million to $3 million more than the $8 million it typically spends on salt. In North Dakota, the state transportation department, which paid about $1.6 million for 29,000 tons of road salt last year, said the price jumped from about $40 a ton in 2004 to about $67 a ton this winter.

Possible collusion?
The wildly disparate costs have raised eyebrows.

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan is investigating possible collusion among suppliers, but so far has found nothing illegal, spokeswoman Robyn Ziegler said.

Dick Hanneman, president of the Salt Institute — a trade group representing U.S. and Canadian salt manufacturers — said the price increase was caused by a “perfect storm” of factors.

Record snow in parts of the U.S. last winter depleted road salt supplies, even though suppliers shipped a near-record 20.3 million tons, up from the average 16 million tons a year through the previous decade, he said.

Then, fearing a repeat of the problem, many states increased their salt orders this year, Hanneman said. Illinois, for example, asked for 34 percent more and Iowa’s request spiked by 52 percent.

Hanneman said the handful of salt suppliers in North America have been running full throttle to try to meet demand.

There are three mines each in Louisiana and Kansas, two apiece in Texas, Ohio and Ontario, Canada, and one in New York, all serving states in the Great Lakes and Mississippi River regions, he said. Most of the salt for the East Coast comes from overseas.

Weather hasn’t always cooperated, either.

Summer flooding closed locks and dams on the Upper Mississippi River for weeks, disrupting barge shipments of road salt. Soaring U.S. gasoline prices over the summer added to the cost of transporting the salt.

Little choice
And in September, Hurricane Ike lashed the Bahamas, idling a Morton Salt site for a week. The storm also shut down production for days at the Louisiana mines.

Now, states have little choice but to pay higher prices and to try to stretch supplies.

Indiana state highway crews will use a new software program to calculate how much road salt is needed on a particular stretch of road.

In Peoria, Barber is hoping his planning pays off.

“It’s not like we’re the only ones in the boat doing this,” he said.