Posted on January 23rd, 2016
Winter storm Jonas was predicted to be a major blizzard and an epic snowfall event on the other side of the Chesapeake Bay, and that’s exactly what it’s turned out to be. Here in Ocean City the forecast was for Jonas to start off as snow yesterday afternoon, switch to rain as the storm moved off the coast and started to blow northeast ushering in warmer ocean air, and finally switch back to snow tonight and drop 1-3 inches total. We were never really worried about snowfall here in Ocean City, but we were worried about the high winds and flooding that were forecasted to accompany Jonas as it turned into a hard nor’easter…especially since Jonas was supposed to be in the area on a full moon.
I took a trip down to the Ocean City boardwalk and inlet this morning around high tide and was amazed by the amount of flooding and by the waves that were pounding the beach.
The wind was blowing a steady 40 knots out of the northeast and had boardwalk storefronts battered and the boardwalk itself covered in sand.
The inlet parking lot was flooded all the way to the boardwalk at high tide and there was debris scattered all over the boardwalk.
The famous ocean fishing pier by the rides off of the boardwalk sustained significant damage. Some of the pilings from under the pier ended up in the inlet parking lot and the east end of the pier was destroyed.
The wind and rain was one thing, but the most damaging part of Jonas will probably be the flooding. Downtown Ocean City was and still is closed due to flooding and parts of downtown have had the power purposely cut off by the power company in anticipation of tonight’s high tide.
Last night and this morning we saw winds sustained at more than 35 knots and some gusts of over 60 knots.
Winter storm Jonas packed all of the punch that forecasters expected with snow, rain, high winds and coastal flooding, but it always could’ve been worse. We’ll see what the storm has left in the tank tonight and it will be off the coast by tomorrow. Then we’ll have a chance to assess the damage and clean up. Ocean City will be back to normal in no time!
