Community Corner

From Fall to Spring in Brick

Golf courses, parks are big gathering places during 'winter that wasn't'

Despite a lack of accumulating snow in Brick, the thought last Halloween – as North Jersey dealt with a mid-fall whallop of the white stuff – was that this winter would pick up .

It wasn't to be.

As spring begins today, Brick residents are joining fellow Shore denizens from Sandy Hook to Cape May to celebrate what the state climatologist's office has declared on its website to be the "winter that wasn't."

Find out what's happening in Brickwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Rarely did a week go by without a day in the 60s all winter long, climate data shows, and this past February proved to be fifth mildest on record since 1895, when records started being kept by the state.

In all, Brick received 2.7 inches of snow between Oct. 31, 2011 and Feb. 11, 2012, the last date on which snow was recorded as having fallen in the township.

Find out what's happening in Brickwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The largest accumulation came on Jan. 21, with 1.3 inches falling. Even during that storm, however, the snow was mostly mixed with rain and only could be measured on grassy surfaces.

The warmth has kept anglers fishing all winter long at local beaches and jetties, and golfers sticking to courses at a time when many flee to Florida to hit the links.

According to data compiled by Ocean County officials, the Forge Pond County Golf Course in Brick brought in $36,980 during January and February. That's head over heels above the $9,263 the course has generated, on average, during the same time period the previous three years.

Similar increases have been seen at the county's other golf course, Atlantis, in Little Egg Harbor.

"The beautiful weather we have experienced in January and February of this year has been great golfing weather," said Freeholder John C. Bartlett, who serves as liaison to the Ocean County Department of Parks and Recreation.

On the last day of winter, a few folks strolled down the sand at Brick Beach III. A kayak could be seen in the calm waters of Barnegat Bay off Bayview Park. And along "the wall" at Manasquan Inlet in Point Pleasant Beach, there were few parking spaces to had.

Brick residents gave their overwhelming seal of approval to the weather when asked about what they were doing to celebrate on Brick Patch's Facebook page.

"I love living at the Jersey Shore," proclaimed Anna Roma-Jones, who said she was "catching a tan by my closed pool."

Sandi Uscinski Pickell and Dawn Bove Gardner both said they were using the warm pattern to open the windows and start a round of spring cleaning.

Marlene Daukshus said she, too, caught some rays by her still-closed pool.

"Just love the smell of sun tan lotion," she said.

Temperatures will scale back a bit Tuesday in Brick, according to the National Weather Service's Philadelphia office. The high will reach 61 under cloudy skies.

But the mercury will bounce back to near 70 on Wednesday as the sun returns, with Thursday forecast to be the week's warmest day with a high in the mid to high 70s after some morning fog burns off.

Even if it gets chilly again, don't fret. Memorial Day is just 68 days away.

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Snowfall in Brick, Fall/Winter 2011-12

Date Accumulation Amount Oct. 31, 2011 0.3 inches* Jan. 21, 2012 1.3 inches Feb. 8, 2012 0.5 inches Feb. 11, 2012 0.6 inches

* The Oct. 31 storm was calculated from Point Pleasant Beach.

State snowfall data for the past winter can be found at the Office of the State Climatologist's website.


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