Snow will start falling Sunday morning in northern New Jersey and will be falling all over the state by nightfall. The winter storm could drop as much as 14 inches of snow in southern New Jersey by the time it moves on late Monday. The rest of the state could see significantly less accumultion.National Weather Service

Brace yourself, New Jersey.

Yet another winter storm is bearing down on the state, with meteorologists saying that as much as 14 inches of snow could fall in southern New Jersey by the time it moves on late Monday.

Light snow, and likely sleet, will start falling in the state’s northern regions Sunday morning as an advancing cold front pushes south from Canada and New England, according to the National Weather Service. Snow should be falling throughout the state by nightfall.

David Robinson, the state climatologist at Rutgers University, said the way low pressure waves trek across the state would affect whether the storm is merely an annoyance or something more formidable in the state’s northern regions.

“If the cold air comes in too strong it’s going to push the snow to the south,” he said. “We won’t know how this thing behaves until these waves of low pressure get closer to the East Coast.”

The Weather Service has mapped a snow band extending southwest from the middle of both Ocean and Burlington counties and into Salem and Cumberland counties, and Philadelphia and Delaware.

“It may not amount to more than a two- to four-inch nuisance” in northern New Jersey, Robinson said.

But at least 8 inches of snow are expected along the snow band, which stretches from Monmouth and Middlesex counties to points west.

“In South Jersey they’re looking for 10 to 14” inches, Robinson said. The Weather Service cautions that “significant amounts” of sleet could fall just south of the snow band and establish a thin sheet of ice on the ground as today’s temperatures fall.

The coast will also be buffeted by wind gusts that could reach up to 40 mph through Monday, when the snowfall will end gradually from northwest to southeast, the Weather Service said.

Regardless of precipitation, near-record cold will have settled over the state Monday night, the agency said.

Overnight lows will hover in the single digits and teens, although winds could make it feel much colder.

Tuesday should be slightly warmer, the Weather Service said, with Wednesday becoming cloudy but warmer. Thursday, though, will bring another low pressure system, this time from the Gulf of Mexico, and possibly more snow and rain.

Star-Ledger staff writer David Giambusso contributed to this report