People are ice skating on the beach. That’s how freaking cold N.J. is right now.

Andrew Morrow, his dark brown hair flowing in the sun last summer, remembers looking down before the 25-foot drop of Wildwoods roller coaster The Great White.

He was overlooking a sandy mass of colorful umbrellas and suntan lotion-wearing beachgoers strolling amid the choppy waves.

He and his wife, Amanda, never in a million years thought they’d be doing what they’re doing right now in the freezer at the Jersey Shore in early February. swallows the state.

“We never thought we’d be ice skating here,” Andrew, 29, says with a laugh as he balances on the ice just beyond the elevated wooden train.

“We tried to stay blonde and enjoy it as much as we could,” Amanda, 31, said of sub-zero temperatures Friday.

One of the first dates for a newlywed Washington Township couple? They both happily recalled ice skating at the Independence Blue Cross River Rink in Philadelphia.

At nearly 200 feet long, the NHL-sized rink is no match for the expanse of Wildwood’s sandy shores. People have been taking advantage of the ice here since January. go skating, play hockey and show off Olympic moves.

When was the last time this happened in Wildwood?

So is this normal?

The answer to the first question is unclear.

Wildwood Mayor Ernie Troiano Jr. remembers a freeze about 15 to 20 years ago that was so cold that the city had to clear ice from the beach so it could host a polar plunge. By the late 1970s, temperatures were so low that the ice sheet allowed people to walk to these infamous places. The wreck of the SS Atlantushe recalls.

But Troiano Jr. He said on Monday: “Ice skating on the beach? I don’t think that’s happened before. I’d say it probably hasn’t.”

“75 years born and raised” in Wildwood, “this is a new year.”

The second question comes down to some good science.

In late January, snow covered the Garden State, including the Wildwoods; local estimates put it at 17 inches in some parts and about 6 inches here. Then followed rain (more than four hours of torrential rain fell on the mayor’s ball fields in the city). A below-freezing forecast (feeling in the single digits and even colder) was on top.

“I would bet this is not unprecedented, but it is certainly rare,” said David Robinson, New Jersey State Climatologist at Rutgers University.

Robinson added on Friday: “I’m not surprised given the circumstances, but I don’t know if the beach was flooded from melting snow (doubtful), or from higher than normal tides during the storm two weeks ago, or from minor flooding that brought out the tides when there was a full moon last weekend.”

On average, ocean water needs to reach 28.4 degrees Fahrenheit to freeze (fresh water freezes at 32 degrees Fahrenheit).

Mayor Troiano asked residents and visitors to take precautions when on the ice, saying the beach was frozen in some parts, likely due to puddles from rain.

Depending on the condition of the beach in Wildwood over the weekend, ice may have accumulated. both precipitation and incoming waves, depending on which piece of ice you’re talking about.

As tides rise, “the water rises up to the beach, and if it’s cold enough, yes, seawater can freeze,” Mike Lee, the National Weather Service’s chief meteorologist, said by phone Monday.

“Obviously, it’s been very cold for the last two weeks and so the water has a chance to freeze and then when the water recedes it’s almost completely exposed to ice,” he said.

While human-caused climate change has been linked by experts to the recent shift in the “polar vortex” — which is all people have been talking about for weeks while waiting for their fingers to melt — the state’s climatologist called Mother Nature’s creation of a giant ice rink on the state’s largest beach simply “a weather event.”

Something that may soon melt away, leaving only memories.

“The high temperature (on Tuesday) was 39 degrees, which is very warm compared to what we’ve been experiencing the last few weeks,” said Lee of the NWS.

Freezing temperatures are expected to return Tuesday night, but the latest forecast suggests nothing as low or as prolonged as those seen in the Northeast recently.

So why wasn’t Andrew wearing skates when he went to his wife?

“I only had one pair of shoes and they were sold out everywhere,” he explained.

I think the news has spread.

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