By Tim Kelly
Come on in! The water’s fine!
Or perhaps more accurately, we should say it’s warm.
Over the last two weeks and before that since roughly mid-August, the ocean temperature in Ocean City has ranged between the mid to high 70s and actually topped 80 degrees several times just before Hurricane Florence’s effects moved into the area.
The warming trend continued this week as rough surf from the storm and mild water temps helped draw surfers and swimmers into the ocean. The Ocean City Beach Patrol will have lifeguards on duty at a limited number of beaches through this weekend to close out the summer season.
“We used to call September ‘Locals Summer,’” said Mark Jamieson, Beach Patrol chief. “The city does a great job putting events together for the September weekends, and the word has gotten out. Not only do you have more locals out and about, but you also see more visitors around town.”
Emily and David Sadd, of Pittsburgh, rented a house for the week and were enjoying the beach with their five kids on Tuesday afternoon. The official water temperature was 75 degrees.
“It’s so warm, you can jump in there and stay underwater all day,” David Sadd said. “It was like this last September, too.”
Emily Sadd, who said the family’s tradition of coming to America’s Greatest Family Resort dates back at least four decades, is a huge fan of September at the shore.
“There aren’t lines to stand in and there’s plenty of parking. And the pace is just slower,” she said. “It’s easier to relax.”
Our unscientific survey of folks squeezing out the last bit of summer showed the Sadds are not alone.
A surfer, who asked to be identified as “Weapon X,” said it was “a lot more fun” to surf “bareback (sans wetsuit) and stay out there for a long time.”
“How long is this (warm ocean) going to continue?” asked a 40-something man, emerging from the surf. “I’m supposed to be in work today. That’s not the problem. The problem is, I don’t want to go back.”
Answering that question is difficult to say. But basically, it has nothing to do with global warming or climate change, and has everything to do with the summer heat, humidity and most of all, wind direction.
“This is really the norm around here for this time of year,” said lifeguard Doug Schmitt, of Havertown, Pa., a 36-year veteran of the OCBP.
He was on duty at Brighton Place Beach, one of the few remaining guarded beaches for the last week of the season.
When the weather gets hot and the water temperature warms to its normal August temperatures, Schmitt said the winds decide if the water will cool or stay warm. An onshore or sea breeze will retain the warm temperatures, an offshore or land breeze will cause the ocean temperature to drop.
The opposite is true of the air temperature, according to Schmitt’s partner, Kevin McClintock, of Linwood, a five-year OCBP veteran.
It wasn’t unusual during the recent heatwave for McClintock and Schmitt to be wearing sweats in the lifeguard chair because of the sea breeze, while just a few feet away, people were sweltering.
“With an offshore wind, the water stays warm and the air is cooler,” McClintock explained. “An onshore wind, the air is warmer and the water cooler.”
Lt. Ronald Kark of the OCBP said from a directional standpoint, winds from the west are the cooling ones for the ocean, and this year those were absent for almost three weeks, leading up to the first signs of Hurricane Florence.
“My theory is because there were no sustained westerly winds for such a prolonged period, some of the warmer waters of the Gulfstream found their way here,” Kark said.
All the lifeguards agreed the waters off the Ocean City beaches do not generally cool until October, when the westerly winds typically arrive for three or four days at a time, which can drop the temperature fairly rapidly.
None of the guards or bathers said they ever remembered a time when the ocean temperature topped 80 degrees.
“Some of the more active swimmers and surfers like it a bit cooler. They are being active, and like the ocean to cool them off. Some say they don’t like it this warm,” Jamieson said.
Also to be considered is upwelling, the oceanic process of wind-driven churning of deeper, cooler water into the waters closer to the beach. All of these factors come into play in determining the ocean temperature at any given time or location.
“It’s a huge, moving body of water,” Jamieson said. “Pinning down an exact temperature isn’t easy. You could go out there and stick a thermometer in the water and because of wind, currents, depth of the water and many other factors, you could get a completely different number than the ‘official’ one,” he said.
Also, the posted Ocean City water temperature usually comes from the website data of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Jamieson said, which is taken from buoys off Atlantic City, and not locally.
Regardless of the scientific explanations and theories, those on the beach Wednesday were simply happy to reap the benefits of swimming in an ocean that just feels warmer than during most times of the year.
Retired educators Karen Andronici and Alyce Tyburczy, from Medford Lakes and Mount Laurel, respectively, have been vacationing in September for more than 10 years.
Andronici, a former school administrator, said, “The teachers have seen enough of me by the time school starts, so that was how I began taking vacation at this time of year.”
Since then, the two friends have been coming to Ocean City, and that always means going into the ocean.
“It’s warm. It’s walk-right-in warm,” Tyburczy said. “We’re always here in September, and we’re always in the water.”
“I went in up to my waist and had my headphones on. I enjoyed the ocean and my music,” Andronici said.
Sisters Susan Campbell, Kellie Davis and Jamie Davis and Kellie’s daughter, Brynn, from Wilmington, Del., and Lancaster, Pa., were visiting Ocean City for the first time.
“It’s amazing here,” Campbell said. “We were in the water for three hours. I put Brynn on my back and we were double-decker diving. We were (body surfing). It was truly a day at the beach.”
Jamie Davis chimed in: “I went in, too … to empty my bladder. Maybe that’s why it felt warm.”
