Rip Current Risk 'Extremely High' Along Jersey Shore
VENTNOR, N.J. (CBS) — The Jersey Shore is dealing with stormy conditions and the weather has really riled up the surf.
An angry washing machine might be one way to describe the Atlantic Ocean Tuesday, but to some surfers, it's a chance to put their skills to the test.
"I think it's fully nuking right now. I'm pretty ready to go get pitted, go up and smack the lip," Andrew Lonkart, a Ventnor surfer, said. "I think it should be pretty sick."
In translation, for surfers like Lonkart, the waves are big and they're excited.
"I knew it was going to be choppy but I thought might as well try to get a few fun ones," Andrew Middleworth, another surfer, said.
For those who aren't very ocean savvy, these waves are an extreme danger. The bigger the waves that come ashore, the faster they return to sea, creating deadly rip currents.
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And even as the weather and surf becomes more pleasant later this week, rip currents will remain a hazard.
Lt. David Funk of Ventnor City Beach Patrol said, "So the rip current risk is going to be extremely high tomorrow and probably the next day or two after that."
These are the days lifeguards prepare for all summer, when the tropics become active and send giant swells hundreds of miles away to the Jersey Shore.
Late August into September is also when beach patrols are stretched the thinnest, with staff returning to school as students and teachers.
To all those who chalked up this beach day as a wash but want to make the most of their remaining summer days, Funk has this advice.
"The number one thing I would say is to contact your local beach patrol and find out what the conditions are like at that particular beach, and always, 100 percent, go in the water near a lifeguard," he said.