By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
The blisteringly hot beach sand felt like you were trudging through the Sahara Desert.
The air temperature flirted with the 90s under a blazing sun. Combined with the sticky humidity, the conditions were absolutely sweltering.
In a word, the weather was, well, ugh.
On the sixth day of a brutal heat wave expected to last through Sunday, tens of thousands of people fled to the lagoons, back bays and the ocean in Sea Isle City on Saturday to cool off.
Jumping into the surf, they were surprised to find that the ocean water was downright chilly – 59 degrees. Despite the intense heat on the beach, a phenomenon known as “upwelling” replaced the warm surface waters close to shore with much colder water that is usually parked farther out in the ocean.
Sea Isle lifeguard Meredith Farley, who was watching over the swimmers at the 59th Street beach, noted that the water temperature had been in the 70s just a few days earlier.
“Then, the other day, it suddenly dropped,” Farley said of the brisk surf temperature.
Chuck Schmidt, who was lounging in a beach chair at the water’s edge, complained that his feet were getting cold in the frothy surf.
“Every time the water hits him, he’s freezing,” Schmidt’s wife, Kathy, said with a laugh. “But I love it.”
The Schmidts live in Pennsauken, N.J., and have a summer vacation home in Sea Isle. Feeling fortunate that they were at the shore during the heat wave, they contemplated what it might have been like Saturday at their Pennsauken home in Camden County.
“It’s a lot better being here than at home in Pennsauken,” Kathy Schmidt said, referring to the inland temperatures soaring well into the 90s.
The Meyer and Doherty families, who are related, perfectly timed their summer vacation in Sea Isle to escape the heat wave in their hometowns. The Meyers, of Baltimore, and the Dohertys, who live in Pittsburgh, guessed that it was scorching hot in the city.
“It’s probably 95 there. But I think it’s very cool here,” Katie Meyer, of Baltimore, said while standing in ankle-deep water. “It’s very relaxing. The water feels cold, but it’s cooling us off.”
“I like it here,” added Briana Doherty. “It feels good. I would rather have it hot than rainy.”
The Meyer and Doherty kids, who are cousins, knew how to keep cool. They sat in the shallow water, digging holes in the wet sand. They included John Doherty, 8, Savannah Doherty, 7, Holten Doherty, 4, Camdyn Meyer, 7, and Ethan Meyer, 6.
While some headed to the beach to find relief from the heat, Tim and Amy Noone and their sons, Mike, 13, and Ryan, 10, cooled off by paddleboarding in the back bay. They launched their paddleboard at Sea Isle’s kayak facility and fishing pier overlooking the bay at 60th Street next to Dealy Field.
The Noones, who live in Havertown, Pa., will be staying in Sea Isle on and off during the summer.
“It must be 15 degrees cooler here,” Tim Noone said, comparing Sea Isle to Havertown. “There’s a little bit of a breeze. The water feels good.”
Amy Noone said the family had no regrets leaving Havertown to head down to the shore during the heat wave.
“We figured it had to be a little cooler down here,” she said.
While Tim and Amy stood on a dock, their sons were enjoying the water. Mike paddled while Ryan sat on the front of the board as they were traversing the back bay.
At one point, the paddleboard became unsteady and they both ended up in the water. But unlike the chilly ocean, the bay water was warm.
“It’s refreshing,” Mike said. “It just feels way better than being in the heat.”
