The third round of wintery weather for New Jersey this week will be timed to make a mess of the morning commute with the heaviest snow in the early morning hours of Friday.

Several districts in Monmouth and Somerset counties have announced delayed openings or virtual school days. Some districts in Ocean County will be closed. The full updated list is at this New Jersey school closings link. 

The snow will start falling after 10 p.m. Thursday and pick up in intensity overnight before tapering off by 9 a.m., according to New Jersey 101.5 Chief Meteorologist Dan Zarrow.

An expected 2 to 4 inches of snow will fall to the north and 4 to 6 inches to the south.

"The center of this coastal storm system will drift just south of New Jersey. That puts us clearly on the cold side of the storm," Zarrow said. "That means for the vast majority of New Jersey, everything that falls from the sky during this winter storm will be straight snow. No mixing. No icy sleet. No slushy rain. Just snowflakes."

Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com or via Twitter @DanAlexanderNJ

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