Trying To Reason with Hurricane Season

Squalls out on the gulf stream

Big storm commin' soon

Passed out in my hammock

God, I slept till way past noon

A lot of Jimmy Buffett puns today.

A lot.

We have a hurricane flirting with the East Coast, work beginning on Ocean Wind 1, and some fall weekend activities.

In the email today:

📆 Upcoming events

😎 Sponsor: Knockaround Sunglasses

🌊 Hurricane Lee

🐋 Windmill updates

🩴 Jimmy Buffett

🩱Things returned to normal in 2023

🛟 Updated list of guarded beaches

🏠 Real estate update

🌊 Weather and tides

📆 Upcoming Events in (and around) Ocean City

• September 9

  • Street Rod Show

    • When: 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.

    • Where: Boardwalk

    • Description: Street rods on the Boardwalk.

• September 10

  • Corvette Show

    • When: 11:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

    • Where: Boardwalk

    • Description: Over 350 cars exhibited. One of the largest shows of its kind in the East. Models from every year Corvettes were manufactured comprise this colorful show. Displayed on the boardwalk from 6th Street – 14th Street, 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information call 609-457-0081. Register at boardwalkcorvettesac.com.

• September 11

  • 9/11 Ceremony

    • When: 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

    • Where: Ocean City Tabernacle, 6th and Asbury

    • Description: “A Day to Remember” will include music, prayer and reflections on the memory of lives lost and on the community spirit that was renewed in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center. All are encouraged to attend.

• September 13

  • Farmers Market

    • When: 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

    • Where: Tabernacle Grounds at 6th and Asbury

    • Description: Farmers market.

Also note the Ocean City Library has many events for adults and kids alike on their calendar, which can be viewed here.

You can see the full list of events in all nearby Shore towns with the following links: Ocean City | Sea Isle | Margate | Avalon | Stone Harbor | Somers Point | Wildwood | Cape May | Ventnor

Other events to look forward to: Ocean City Airport Festival (September 16), Boardwalk Aerobatic Airshow (September 17)

🤳 News Bits

Hurricane Lee 🌊

I’ve been tracking Hurricane Lee’s development since last week, when it was coming out of the Far Side of the World in Africa.

As of right now, it looks like we could be in for some gnarly surf and perhaps some beach erosion, and not much more.

But.

A slight shift in the track could send this thing barreling into anywhere from the mid-Atlantic to New England and Nova Scotia.

Here’s what we know:

On Thursday, it rapidly intensified from a Category 1 to a Category 5.

Even if it makes a turn north and stays out to sea, waves on the East Coast could get into double-digits in height. The National Hurricane Center says dangerous rip currents can begin on the East Coast on Monday.

Keep in mind, that’s if it stays well out to sea. If it comes closer… well, you’re gonna go Surfing in a Hurricane.

The most recent spaghetti plots (various models with their projected paths) have Lee avoiding the Coast of Carolina and staying well East of the mid-Atlantic. Model runs overnight actually shifted it slightly farther away after a few days of projections coming closer to the Shore (ignore the red circle here).

Forecasters are calling for the potential of 200 mph wind gusts near the eye of the hurricane. Those winds will calm down a bit the farther north the storm goes, but the wind field will actually increase as it goes north. New Jersey is still looking at heavy winds, 20-30 mph.

For now, this won’t have substantial impacts on New Jersey. But meteorologists largely agree they will have a better sense of northerly track Come Monday.

Windmill Updates 🐋

Despite the delay we told you about last week, Orsted still plans on digging up Ocean City roads starting September 12.

Meanwhile, Ocean City will hold its Environmental Commission meeting the same day at 6:30 p.m. Number 6 on the agenda? You guessed it, Ocean Wind 1.

Here’s the notice Orsted sent to residents.

We spotted a helicopter in the wetlands area near Merion Park this week. Unclear if it was related to the wind project, but this is an area where Orsted plans to bury its transmission line:

News Links 🔗

• A man died after being pulled from the waters over Labor Day Weekend in Strathmere ♥️

• Three jet skiers rescued from the marsh in Wildwood ⛑

🩴 Jimmy Buffett

I became a Jimmy Buffett fan when I was 14 or 15, in 1998.

Growing up, my Dad of course had the yellow-covered Songs You Know By Heart album. I listened to Margaritaville and Cheeseburger in Paradise but I always thought it was weird.

“Jimmy BuFFETT?” I would say, accentuating the abrupt pronunciation of his last name.

But then during my freshman year at Malvern Prep, I heard the seniors playing that same album at a barbecue they were throwing for the school.

They were cool, and ergo Buffett must be cool, I thought.

Fast-forward 13+ concerts, studying every single Jimmy song and their subsequent versions, and an overall obsession, I count myself as a true Parrothead (I even attended his right-hand-man Mac McAnally’s last two shows in Avalon this summer and last).

Anyway, A Lot To Drink About. I honored Jimmy the only way I knew how last Saturday— with a shit ton of margaritas:

Some other Buffett videos:

Here’s video of MacAnally taking a video of the crowd just over a week before Jimmy died— he said he planned on sending the video to Jimmy.

Here’s Jimmy playing It’s My Job set to highlights of the Eagles winning the Super Bowl in 2018.

🩱 Things Returned to Normal in 2023

As we’ve been telling you for a while— things may have topped out at the Shore.

OCNJDaily’s Maddie Vitale reports that while beach tag sales generated record revenue, it’s only because prices increased. There was actually a 4.4% decrease in total tags sold.

Meanwhile, while the rental market was still strong, it returned a bit more to normal. There were some open weeks, and realtors agree that owners may want to consider affordability when pricing for 2024.

🛟 Updated List of Guarded Beaches

Not many left… and there will be no guarded beaches after September 17.

• St. Charles Place

• 8th Street

• 9th Street

• 12th Street

• 34th Street

• 58th Street

Please be careful out there. Potential for radical surf next week.

🏠 Real Estate Update

Did you know Walking The Boards has a newsletter dedicated to Ocean City Real Estate?

If you would like to opt-in, just click the subscribe button right here:

🌊 Weather and Tides

As always, we recommend getting up-to-date forecasts from THE GOAT of South Jersey weather, NorEaster Nick, directly on his Facebook page. You can also download his app.

Tides (9th Street):

• Friday (9/8)

  • High: 3:31 AM

  • Low: 9:28 AM

  • High: 4:00 PM

  • Low: 10:45 PM

  Saturday (9/9)

  • High: 4:36 AM

  • Low: 10:30 AM

  • High: 4:59 PM

  • Low: 11:42 PM

  Sunday (9/10)

  • High: 5:33 AM

  • Low: 11:26 AM

  • High: 5:50 PM

  Monday (9/11)

  • Low: 12:30 AM

  • High: 6:21 AM

  • Low: 12:15 PM

  • High: 6:35 PM

  Tuesday (9/12)

  • Low: 1:10 AM

  • High: 7:03 AM

  • Low: 1:00 PM

  • High: 7:15 PM

  Wednesday (9/13)

  • Low: 1:47 AM

  • High: 7:41 AM

  • Low: 1:40 PM

  • High: 7:52 PM

Thanks! Bubble’s Up!