Warmer than normal weather is expected next week (Source: AccuWeather.com)
Where's the snow this winter?
We've had rain, wind and ice, but very little snow in New Jersey, unlike last winter - the seventh snowiest on record.
Much of the East has been not very snowy. Twenty airport locations had one of their top 20 least snowy Decembers on record, according to the Northeast Regional Climate Center.
Snow in the East through Dec. 30, 2014 (Source: National Weather Service Eastern Region Headquarters)
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Newark saw only 0.3 inches of snow last month - 5.1 inches below normal. Atlantic City got 0.4 inches - 3.3 inches below the norm, according to the center.
Statewide, it was the 19th least snowy December on record, with snowfall averaging 0.6 inches - 3.5 inches below average, according to the Office of the New Jersey State Climatologist.
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Moreover, the climate office lists only four snowfall events so far this season, and two of them unfolded in November. The largest was on Thanksgiving eve. (A little bit of snow fell in North Jersey Sunday and Monday, according to the National Weather Service).
Last winter was a much different story. In December 2013, for example, snowfall averaged 9.2 inches statewide, or 4.3 inches above normal, according to the office. It was the 31st snowiest December in 120 years.
Snow and ice on Fletcher Lake in Bradley Beach on Jan. 9, 2015 (Photo by Tom Spader/Staff Photographer)
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So when can we expect more snow?
Well, rain is likely tonight in Freehold, possibly mixing with snow after 1 a.m., according to the weather service. But little or no snow accumulation is expected, and no snow is in forecasts through Monday.
"Looks pretty quiet to me," according to Gary Szatkowski, meteorologist in charge of the weather service Mount Holly Office.
"Thursday threat has faded, and temperatures start to moderate as we move into the upcoming weekend," he said in an email.
So if you like snow like me, it looks like you're out of luck for the foreseeable future.
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Climate Prediction Center outlooks show good chances of warmer than normal temperatures from Jan. 18 through 26.
It's expected to be cold enough to snow at night, but no storms are on the horizon.
Through the end of January, it appears that cold air and storms will generally remain out of sync to get a major snowfall in the Interstate-95 corridor, according to AccuWeather.com.
David A. Robinson, the New Jersey state climatologist, said in an email that it "looks basically snow free for the next two weeks."
"Next week shows some signs of having some (precipitation), but it is far, far too early to say how much, and if (precipitation) arrives, it looks as if it would have a better chance of being wet than white," he said.
As for the low snowfall this winter, temperatures nationwide were well below average in November and the nation was far milder than average in December, the second warmest in 120 years, according to Robinson.
It was also "quite mild" in New Jersey and, nationwide, the average precipitation fell more commonly as rain than snow, he said.
