An Afternoon Walk In The Aftermath Of The Blizzard On Long Beach Island

In order to qualify as a blizzard a winter storm must have sustained winds of 35 mph, there must be blowing snow reducing visibility under a quarter of a mile and these two conditions must continue for at least three hours. I can personally confirm that the requirements  of a blizzard were met Saturday morning on Long Beach Island New Jersey last weekend. I walked 1 1/2 miles in them.  You can read more about my frigid experience in my previous blog post. 

After returning from my walk I spent the rest of the day editing photographs and  watching the storm from my window at the LBI Hotel in Ship Bottom.  The snow diminished and the visibility improved during the afternoon hours. By 3 p.m. the snows had stopped.  However, the temperatures dropped and  strong winds continued, but now from a northwesterly direction.  I heard the road crews  clearing the streets outside of thee hotel  and decided to venture out on the snow covered island. I found large snow drifts and piles of plowed snow outside of the hotel.

I was surprised,  however,  to find Route 72 plowed and  almost snow free.

And, I was surprised, and delighted to find the side streets were now plowed. The local snow removal and plowing was excellent. 

The side roads were still snow covered and icy but at least  I was able to walk back down to the ocean without trudging through the high  snow drifts on  the sidewalks.  About a foot of snow fell on the island. The snow had ended  but it was cloudy and a much colder 12 degrees. A strong northwesterly wind of around 25 mph plummeted the wind chill to below zero. 

I  walked down E. 7th street past snow covered beach houses.  There were no other folks out on my walk to the beach. The fierce wind and blowing snow discouraged  folks from starting their snow removal efforts. 

Long Beach Blvd. was open to traffic,

but it was  still snow covered  with large snow drift and piles of snow the blizzard and road crews deposited along the sidewalks. 

I walked to the beach access ramp and again struggled through the snow drifts, some up to my hips,

to climb to the dunes above the beach. 

It was worth the effort. I got what  I came for,  snow at the shore. And there was a lot of it. The wind howled from atop the dunes as I gazed on the white snow covered beach.  I heard the roar of the raging ocean in the distance. Here is a link to a video I uploaded to my YouTube channel I took from atop the dunes. https://youtube.com/shorts/7Vr_JSGJ2UI?feature=share

I decided to walk to the  shoreline on the beach. I again struggled through the drifts that formed near the sand dunes . Near the  shoreline  the waves created a layer of ice at the high tide mark.  I made it to the  frozen sandy beach and  watched  the raging waves of the angry sea. 

Although the heavy snow has ended a few flurries swirled in the howling winds making for a tempestuous scene described in many novels I have read about the stormy  sea. 

I was surprised to see sea gulls flying above and  diving into the raging waves. They apparently were feeding on some poor fish or sea creatures  tossed up by by churning of  the ocean bottom caused by  the waves. Here is a link to a video I uploaded to my YouTube channel of the waves crashing  on the shore. https://youtube.com/shorts/GglMcbYAync?feature=share

It was difficult in the windy and frigid conditions  but I took photos of some of the birds.  The salt water spray from the crashing waves froze my face and exposed fingers. But I managed to take some photos of the herring gulls,

and ring-billed gulls that were braving the frigid conditions and taking advantage of this opportunity to try and catch a meal. 

There was only one other person on the beach, this lone cross country skier.

The freezing salt spray, cold and wind didn’t allow me to watch the raging ocean for to long so I struggled through the snow drifts and began my walk back to the hotel.

I now realized that I was walking directly into the strong northwesterly wind and it was a lot harder, and colder, on my return  walk. 

As cold as I was I decided to walk through some of the side streets of Ship Bottom and observe the effects of the blizzard on this seaside community. I walked past snow covered hotels,

beaches houses and

mailboxes as I made my way to a street along the intercoastal bay. 

The wind was vicious here as it blew across the waters of the bay. Please notice  that the waters were ice free and compare the photos of the waters from my hike the following morning which I will include in my next blog. 

Once again I found seagulls flying,   or trying to fly in the fierce winds blowing over the waters of the bay. The birds flights were almost stationary as they struggled to make headway into the wind. This was a  herring gull,

and this a great black-backed gull.  

This poor red breasted merganser swam in the frigid waters.

Here is a link to a photo gallery with more pictures of the birds I saw on my hike. Long Beach Island afternoon hike birds January 29 2022.

After photographing the birds  I continued my frigid walk and crossed Route 72, the only access road to the island, and into the neighborhood on the other side of the highway. It wasn’t a pleasure walk as the howling wind blew the  powdery snow  into my face. 

Although the technical requirements of a blizzard weren’t met it still sure felt like I was walking in a blizzard

I decided I had enough and walked back to my hotel. On the way I encountered a parade of plows fighting the drifting snow  and keep the roads open. 

I was glad to enter my hotel after my 3 mile walk through the snow covered streets in the frigid and windy conditions. 

Of course, I was hungry again and was pleased to learn the restaurant at the hotel had a limited. I ordered this delicious white pizza and spent my evening editing photographs and sharing my adventures with family and friends on social media. I fell asleep content that I had experienced the fury of the snow covered beach and ocean.  This is a link to a photo gallery  with more pictures from my afternoon hike after the blizzard . Long Beach Island afternoon hike  January 29 2022. 

It’s the Black Sea in a midnight gale. – It’s the unnatural combat of the four primal elements. – It’s a blasted heath. – It’s a Hyperborean winter scene. – It’s the breaking-up of the icebound stream of Time. – Author: Herman Melville

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