Winter storm watches have been issued for most of New Jersey for a major snowstorm this weekend with increasing chances of snow totals topping 10 inches, forecasters say.

“Confidence continues to increase in a major winter storm impacting the region Saturday night through early Monday afternoon,” the National Weather Service said early Thursday. “Major impacts from accumulating snow are likely areawide.”

While the weather service has not issued a snowfall forecast map with specific amounts, the watches were issued because there’s now a more than 90% chance at least 5 to 6 inches of snow.

“Probabilities of exceeding 10 inches are 70-90%,” for most of New Jersey, the weather service said. “While this event remains a few days out, confidence is higher than usual for this range in significant impacts across the region.”

The current track of the storm may bring more mixing of sleet and freezing rain to southern New Jersey.

“This may hinder snow totals some for these areas, but significant impacts are expected nonetheless,” the weather service said. “Depending on how soon, and to what extent, mixing occurs, amounts could exceed 10 inches for this area.”

The winter storm watch starts at 7 p.m. Saturday and extends through Monday afternoon for the 16 counties covered by the weather service’s office in New Jersey.

The New York weather service office, which provides forecasts for Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Passaic and Union counties, said a winter storm watch was considered, but forecasters held off issuing it this morning “given the onset of the event is still around 72 hours out.”

Both weather service offices, however, urged residents to prepare for significant snow accumulations.

“Snow covered roads and reduced visibility WILL cause widespread travel disruptions,” the weather service said. “This has the potential to be a very impactful storm for much of the area.”

AccuWeather’s forecast has New Jersey in the center of a wide zone of 6 to 12 inches of snow blanketing the region.

Snow is expected to begin overspreading the state from southwest to northeast Saturday night with an extremely cold air mass in place.

Snowfall rates may quickly become heavy Sunday with rapid accumulations possible, as a storm system tracks northeastward off the coast.

The storm is expected to linger into Monday morning, likely affecting school schedules to start the week.

Ahead of the storm

Thursday will be a relatively mild day with highs in the 40s under mostly sunny skies, though winds could gust up to 25 mph.

Friday will continue the brief warmup with temperatures in the mid to upper 30s before an Arctic front arrives during the day.

Temperatures will plunge into the single digits by Friday night.

Saturday will remain bitterly cold with highs only reaching the upper teens to low 20s, making outdoor preparations for the storm quite uncomfortable.

Frozen forecast next week

After the storm system departs Monday, high pressure will build into the region with cold temperatures and breezy making any snow melt unlikely.

Temperatures are expected to remain below freezing across the entire state through Wednesday, with many locations only reaching the low to mid 20s during the day.

Monday night and Tuesday night are of particular concern, with low temperatures in the single digits statewide and wind chills potentially falling below zero during nighttime hours.

With significant snow cover potentially in place, winds could cause blowing and drifting of snow, and temperatures could potentially be even colder than currently forecasted, the weather service said.

Current weather radar