North Jersey and South Jersey have their intense sports rivalries. They even argue over what to call big lunch sandwiches.
North Jersey and South Jersey have their intense sports rivalries. They even argue over whether big lunch sandwiches should be called subs or hoagies.
There's also a big divide between the two turfs when it comes to snowfall accumulations.
In most years, by far, North Jersey dominates South Jersey in the snow department, because of its colder temperatures and higher terrain. But once in a while, Old Man Winter throws a curveball and the South emerges on top.
That's what has happened this month. As of Wednesday, with only eight days remaining and no snowstorms brewing on the forecast maps, South Jersey has had more than four times as much snow than North Jersey in March.
Okay, we're not talking about huge numbers here, since big snowstorms made it a habit to steer clear of the Garden State most of the winter. But it's still worthy of bragging rights when small towns like Paulsboro and Stone Harbor get more snow than big cities like Newark and Jersey City. And more snow than people living up in Schooley's Mountain.
South Jersey has averaged 3.7 inches of snow this month, almost an inch above normal, and North Jersey has averaged only 0.8 inches, more than 5 inches below normal, according to statistics compiled by New Jersey State Climatologist David Robinson at Rutgers University. (By the way, Central Jersey has had just 1.6 inches -- also lower than South Jersey.)
South Jersey's March domination over its neighbors up north has happened before -- at least 20 times since detailed weather stats started being kept in the Garden State back in 1895.
In addition, statistics show there have been three years in which South Jersey ended up with more snow than North Jersey not only during one month, but during the entire snow season, which runs from October through April.
- During the 2009-2010 season, South Jersey had 66.5 inches of snow, while North Jersey had 51.8.
- During the 1986-1987 season, South Jersey had 39.5 inches, and North Jersey had 37.6.
- During the 1978-1979 season, South Jersey had 39.1 inches, while North Jersey had 36.5.
'Snowmageddon' and other factors
One person who isn't surprised by the sporadic South Jersey domination is Robinson, the guy who maintains all the stats and knows New Jersey's climate trends and quirks perhaps better than anyone in the state.
With 121 years of snow stats on the books, 20 snowy Marches for South Jersey is not a huge number, Robinson said. "This means that one out of six Marches has more southern snow, or put the other way, five of six have more northern snow."
And having three full winters with more snow accounts for less than 3 percent of all the winters on record.
Sometimes, it's the luck of the draw that determines which parts of the state will end up with the most snow, Robinson said, noting that the storm track during most of this past winter favored the central and southern areas of New Jersey.
"It isn't as if it has been colder in the south than up north -- it hasn't," the state climatologist said. "Rather the cold, snow-producing storms have not deposited much up north, particularly in the normally snowier northwest corner of New Jersey."
When analyzing an entire season of snow stats, Robinson noted, "sometimes it only takes one storm to deliver the bulk of the winter's snow. And if that storm hits the south and misses the north, even with more minor to modest events perhaps impacting the north more than the south at other times during the season, the south might still win."
That's what happened in 1979, Robinson said, with a huge February President's Day storm that buried cities from Washington, D.C., to South Jersey with heavy snow. February 2010 was another active snow period, Robinson noted, with several major storms hitting the DC to Philadelphia corridor, including one so big it was nicknamed "Snowmaggedon" by The Washington Post.
Clobbered with 20-plus inches of snow from that one storm alone, South Jersey ended up with substantially more snow than North Jersey that year.
And, when it comes to bragging rights, South Jersey holds one impressive record that hasn't been beaten in more than a century. The biggest single snowstorm accumulation on record in New Jersey is 34 inches -- which fell in February 1899 in the resort city of Cape May.
That record is a very tough one to beat. Sorry, North Jersey.
Len Melisurgo may be reached at LMelisurgo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @LensReality. Find NJ.com on Facebook.