People are ice skating on the beach. That’s how freaking cold N.J. is right now.

People are ice skating on the beach. That’s how freaking cold N.J. is right now.

Steven Rodas

Mon, February 9, 2026 at 7:24 PM UTC

4 min read

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google.

Dark brown hair waving in the sun last summer, Andrew Morrow remembers staring down before the 25-foot drop of Wildwoods’ roller coaster, The Great White.

He was looking at a sandy mass of colorful umbrellas and sun-lotioned beachgoers milling about amid undulating waves.

Never in a million years did he and wife, Amanda, think they’d be doing what they were doing now, in early February at the Jersey Shore, as a deep freeze swallows the state.

“We never thought we’d be down here ice skating,” 29-year-old Andrew says, laughing, while balancing on the ice just beyond the towering wooden coaster.

“We’ve tried to stay bundled up and enjoy it as much as we can,” Amanda, 31, chimed in Friday of the subzero temps.

One of the newly-married Washington Township couples’ first dates? Ice skating at the Independence Blue Cross RiverRink in Philadelphia, they both remembered happily.

That NHL-sized rink, measuring about 200 feet in length, is no match for the wide expanse of Wildwood’s sandy shore. Here, since January people have taken advantage of the ice to go skating, play hockey and show off Olympic moves.

When’s the last time this happened in Wildwood?

And, uh, is it normal?

The answer to the first question is unclear.

Wildwood Mayor Ernie Troiano, Jr. remembers a freeze about 15 to 20 years ago that was so cold that the city had to remove ice from the beach before it could host a polar plunge. In the late 1970s, temps were so low a layer of ice allowed people to walk to the infamous Wreck of the SS Atlantus, he recalls.

But “ice skating on the beach? I don’t think that’s ever happened before. I could tell you it probably hasn’t,” Troiano, Jr. said Monday.

“75 years born and raised” in Wildwood, “this is a new one.”

The second question comes down to some good ol’ science.

Snow blanketed the Garden State, including the Wildwoods, toward the end of January — up to 17 inches in some parts and roughly 6 inches here by local estimates. Afterward, rain (the mayor ballparks more than four hours of downpour came down in his city) then followed. A sub-freezing forecast (in the single digits and feeling even more frigid) was the cherry on top.

“I bet this isn’t unprecedented but for sure it is rare,” said David Robinson, the New Jersey State Climatologist who is based at Rutgers University.

“I’m not surprised given the circumstances, though I don’t know if the beach was flooded due to melting snow (doubtful) or due to minor flooding from higher than normal tides during the storm two weeks ago or over last weekend when there was a full moon that brought up tides,” Robinson added Friday.

On average, ocean water has to reach 28.4 degrees Fahrenheit to freeze (freshwater freezes at 32 degrees F).

The beach likely froze in parts due to puddling from the rainfall, said Mayor Troiano, who asked residents and visitors to take precautions when out on the ice.

Based on the state of the beach in Wildwood over the weekend, ice may have accumulated from both the rainfall and incoming waves depending on which patch of ice you’re talking about.

As high tides come in, “water rises up to the beach and then if it’s cold enough, yes, seawater can freeze,” Mike Lee, lead meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said Monday on the phone.

“Obviously, it’s been very cold for the last two weeks to now and so water has a chance to freeze and then when low tide comes down, it gives pretty much full exposure to the ice,” he said.

While human-caused climate change has been linked by experts to the latest shift of the “polar vortex” — which been the only thing people have talked about for weeks as they wait for their fingers to thaw — the state’s climatologist called Mother Nature creating a massive ice rink on the state’s largest beach simply “a weather event.”

One that may melt away soon, leaving only the memories.

“(Tuesday’)s high is 39 degrees, that’s very warm compared to what we’ve been experiencing the last couple weeks,” said Lee of the NWS.

Tuesday night is expected to bring freezing temperatures again but nothing as low or long-lasting as the Northeast has seen lately, according to the latest forecasts.

So why wasn’t Andrew wearing skates to join his wife?

“I only had one pair and they were sold out everywhere,” he explained.

I guess word got out.

Read the original article on NJ.com. Add NJ.com as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

About Our Ads

Source