Shore Environment

Presidential Island Beauty Along the Ocean and Bay; Lavallette Council Meeting Postponed

by
Daniel Nee
February 20, 2023

As the long Presidents’ Day weekend continues into Monday, “America the Beautiful” may have perfectly described our own little slice of the Land of the Free Sunday night.

A mix of sun and clouds following a warmer-than-usual winter day led to clean – almost tropical – looking waters in the ocean, calm seas and a pink hue that enveloped the entire barrier island as twilight approached. We were lucky enough to be able to capture the scene along both the ocean and bay near Normandy Beach at Brick Beach III and Bayside Park along Route 35, and shared it in the video embedded above. A few still photos are posted below – then a few updates on the holiday schedule and the upcoming weather forecast for the week.

Brick Beach III and Bayside Park, President’s Day sunset, Feb. 19, 2023. (Photo: Daniel Nee)

A few items of note:

All local municipal governments have their offices closed Monday due to the federal holiday. Lavallette, which would normally have a borough council meeting Monday night, will have the meeting on Tuesday. The agenda is posted here. Also, it’s worth noting that the Lavallette Planning Board will have a meeting Wednesday night. That agenda is also posted online. For those who live in Toms River’s jurisdiction, Wednesday’s council meeting will be held at 4 p.m. instead of the usual 6 p.m.

The National Weather Service is forecasting the mild temperatures to continue through much of the week, though with the warm will come a bit of rain. On Monday, there will be a slight chance of showers after 1 p.m. It will otherwise be cloudy, then gradually becoming mostly sunny later in the day with a high near 56. Winds will be from the southwest at about 10 m.p.h.

A chance of rain will continue Monday night into Tuesday, though skies are forecast to become partly sunny, with Tuesday’s high also reaching 56 degrees, the NWS said. It will be breezy, however, with a southeast wind 5 to 10 m.p.h. becoming west 15 to 20 m.p.h. in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 30 m.p.h.

After clearing Tuesday night, a chance of rain will occur again Wednesday, after 1 p.m. It will otherwise be partly sunny with a high of 44 degrees.

While a long way off, we took a peak at the long-range forecast and checked out the word on Saturday, when thousands will “plunge” into the ocean in Seaside Heights in one of the local area’s biggest events of the winter. It’s looking, well, “interesting.” Despite warm temperatures lingering throughout the week, a cold blast will send Friday night’s low down to 25-degrees. It will recover to a high of 39 degrees Saturday, however the NWS is calling for a chance of a rain-snow mix. Right now, the probability of precipitation is 50 percent. Let’s hope things change as we make it through the week!