See Update: Ocean City Weathers the Wind, but the Chill Is Here to Stay
A light coating of snow had covered Ocean City, NJ, by 9 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 14.
Ocean City will wake up Sunday morning to winter.
The National Weather Service has issued a high wind warning, a wind chill advisory and a winter weather advisory all in effect for Sunday morning.
Ocean City is in the funnel between a powerful coastal storm headed for New England and a high-pressure system over the midwest. The clash of the two systems will create northwest winds of 39 to 44 mph with gusts up to 55 mph.
The highest winds were expected to start about 3 a.m. Sunday and will continue through midday. Outages are possible if winds knock down trees and power lines. Travel on the causeways could be dangerous in the high winds.
The high temperature on Sunday in Ocean City is expected to reach only 17 degrees, and wind chill values could be as low as -10.
Snow squalls overnight were expected to leave an inch or two of accumulation — and by 9 p.m. Saturday a light coating covered the island.
The coldest is yet to come.
Wind chill values are expected to reach a low Sunday night into Monday morning. The temperature Sunday night may fall to 6 degrees with a wind chill value of -15 degrees.
The National Weather Service is suggesting that it could be the coldest arctic outbreak for the region since 1996. Local record low temperatures in Atlantic City are 4 degrees for Feb. 15 (1916) and 3 degrees for Feb. 16 (1888).
The temperature is not expected to rise above the freezing mark until next weekend.
Nonresident property owners in Ocean City should consider checking thermostats to prevent frozen pipes and potential water damage.
With new moon tides not arriving until Wednesday (Feb. 18) and the high winds blowing offshore, tidal flooding is not expected to be an issue on Sunday or Monday.
