Winter Gale: Down on the Jersey Shore.

This past weekend was one of the so called "three day weekends" observed by the U.S. government and generally, but not universally, followed by most schools and other employers as well.  These long weekends are much loved by folks like your diarist who look forward to a small break from work.  Actually this coming week will be unusual in that I'll only go to the lab two out of five work days.  This coming Thursday and Friday I'll be traveling down I-95 to Gulfport, Florida for the Moth Boat Mid-Winter Regatta.  But back to this past weekend; we went to check our cottage on the island of Brigantine.  Saturday was quite windy as a winter gale blew through along the coast.  The Atlantic City airport recorded wind gusts up to 52 mph and other near-by locations had gusts higher than that.  This gale was not the usual Nor'easter but one associated with a front moving across the island from the west.  West winds tend to accentuate full moon low tides (i.e. a "blow out" low tide).  Such tides sometimes uncover interesting bits of sea glass, shells and other odds and ends.  Your diarist found no sea glass but did manage to snap a few pix.

Although the deep snows of early winter have melted, another 4 to 8 inches of snow is forecast for Monday night.  This is a rude awakening from the two days of balmy 70 degree weather we've just experienced.  Day time temps dropped like a rock as Saturday progressed.  So much for the groundhog's prediction of an early spring.

The strong west wind blew the tops off the waves.  The waves were breaking fairly close to shore.  This is about a half hour after the ebb.

Although not visible in the photos, the wind was also picking up a fair amount of dry sand making any prolonged attempt of a walk an exercise in sand  blasting.  Your diarist returned the camera to the safety of the case and retreated to the warmth of the house.  Portugal is the next land fall due east from this picture.

Sunday we will wander down the coast to Cape May.  Stay tuned.