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NYC beach season kick-off brings temps that make it feel like summer in NYC
By
Brigid Bergin
Published May 28, 2023
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Deccio Serrano/NurPhoto/Shutterstock
By
Brigid Bergin
Published May 28, 2023
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It’s Memorial Day weekend, marking the unofficial start to summer with mild temperatures sending New Yorkers to hit area beaches.
Across the City, orange umbrellas dotted the shoreline where a small but mighty force of lifeguards began duty on Saturday, when beach season officially began. It runs through Sept. 10 with lifeguards on duty from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m.
Pearl Petrovich was among the throngs of people strolling the boardwalk at Rockaway Beach on Sunday. The 75-year-old North Bergen, N.J. resident used to spend her summer in Long Beach but came to Rockaway Beach for the first time in 30 years because it’s free.
“I mean, how many beaches can you tell me are free?” said Petrovich.
Asked if she planned to brave the water, she demurred.
“I didn't bring my bathing suit so I'm not. And it's supposed to be 60 degrees. It's freezing,” she added.
The National Weather Services forecast called for high temperatures to reach the upper 70s on Sunday and warming into the low 80s on Monday, Memorial Day. Temperatures will then dip back into the 70s on Tuesday and Wednesday before heating up to the upper 80s and possibly low 90s by the end of the week.
The summer-like weather – one month ahead of schedule – is likely to keep busy area beaches, which have also seen an increase in marine life activity in recent years. Sharks showed their teeth with five bites off Long Island beaches last year, a signal according to scientists of cleaner waters in the region.
Another more friendly form of sea-life could be spotted off the shore of Rockaway Beach on Sunday.
As Maurice Frazier and his friend, Joshua Garcia, sat on a bench on the boardwalk eating Chinese food, a pod of dolphins swam by breaching the surface of the water with their curved fins and diving back down.
“I ain't gonna lie, I like dolphins,” said Frazier. “Yo, wow,” added Garcia, “They're right there.”
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Brigid Bergin
Brigid Bergin is an award-winning senior reporter on the People and Power desk. She is fiercely committed to telling stories that help people engage and support democracy. In 2022, she hosted a live, ten-week call-in politics show ahead of the midterm elections called The People's Guide to Power. Brigid's reporting in 2017 included some of the first coverage of a political newcomer now known as AOC. In 2016, she broke the news of a voter purge in Brooklyn just days before New York’s presidential primary, triggering city, state and federal investigations. Brigid also guest hosts The Brian Lehrer Show and All Of It. She graduated from the University at Albany and the CUNY Newmark School of Journalism. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or Signal 917-723-4719.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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