When the air conditioning broke, Brendan Smith promised employees at Julio’s Pizza Company in Atlantic Highlands that he’d buy them all milkshakes from Nicholas Creamery across the street at the end of their shift if they stopped complaining about the heat.
The workers quietly returned to work. Smith had made good on his promise. But the next day, the stifling heat returned. And the next day. And the next day.
“I was driving down the street today and I saw a guy in an Amazon van and I thought, ‘I want to drive like that,'” Smith said, standing in the kitchen of a Keansburg pizza parlor one day last week, the temperature inside registering 91 degrees.
This summer’s weather has taken a toll on the Jersey Shore’s economy, with heat indexes inland exceeding 100 degrees Fahrenheit while ocean temperatures remain unseasonably cool.
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Jersey Shore businesses like Julio’s Pizza are battling power outages and working hard to fulfill orders in a 90-degree kitchen. Co-owner Erin Willett looks out the kitchen window on Main Street in Keansburg, New Jersey, Thursday, July 11, 2024.
In Red Bank, foot traffic thinned at the Broadwalk pedestrian mall, southerly winds cooled the water at Point Pleasant Beach, making fishing less favorable, and in Highlands, a newly opened restaurant canceled reservations for more than 200 customers Saturday night after the storm knocked out power after 60 mph winds.
Climate change has sparked warnings about rising sea levels, but experts say this summer is a sign that it’s causing short-term disruptions as well.
“These weather phenomena are taking on new life,” said Parul Jain, a professor of finance and economics at Rutgers Business School in Newark-New Brunswick, “and we’re seeing some of the effects of that.”
The tourism industry in Monmouth and Ocean counties had hoped to surpass last year’s season, when visitors spent $8.6 billion, but more than halfway through the summer tourist season, the weather is forcing businesses to take precautions, even if it means closing early.
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Jersey Shore businesses like Julio’s Pizza are battling power outages and working hard to fulfill orders in a 90-degree kitchen. Co-owner Erin Willett works inside the restaurant on a hot summer day in Keansburg, New Jersey, Thursday, July 11, 2024.
Erin Butterick, owner of Union Market in Tuckerton, said her store’s air conditioning always struggles to withstand the heat, but this summer has been especially tough. She installed air curtains in entrances and exits, as well as portable air conditioners and fans. She provided staff with cold towels and popsicles.
That didn’t work: After temperatures in the dining room reached 89 degrees last Tuesday, Butterick decided to close the restaurant on Wednesday so technicians could fix the air conditioning. The restaurant reopened.
“Having to close during our busiest time of the year is a disservice to a small business like mine,” Butterick said. “It puts a significant strain on the business’ finances so I’m disappointed to have to close, but we also have a duty to protect our staff.”
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Is the heat as bad as the rain?
The rise in temperatures is part of a trend. Last year, New Jersey had its third-warmest year on record, and this year could be just as warm. State climatologist David Robinson said June was New Jersey’s second-warmest on record, based on 130 years of climate data.
To make matters even more unpleasant, not only is New Jersey getting warmer, but the Atlantic Ocean next to it is one of the fastest warming regions on Earth, said Lori Gallzio, who studies climate change in marine environments at Rutgers University’s Ocean Observation Leadership Center.
Robinson said evaporation from the warm ocean is increasing humidity in the air around New Jersey, which, combined with rising summer temperatures, is raising the heat index across the state.
With temperatures in the mid-90s Fahrenheit and high humidity, the heat index could easily exceed 100 Fahrenheit, he said.
“This year is destined to be a warm summer,” he said. “There’s no indication that temperatures will suddenly drop below normal enough to offset the excessive heat seen earlier in the summer.”
This summer the coast has experienced the worst of both.
It’s so hot inland that in Red Bank, where officials have closed off parts of Broad Street downtown, the Red Bank Rivercenter business group has begun using artificial intelligence to track anonymous cellphone data to count visitors.
Executive Director Bob Zuckerman said they found that foot traffic on Saturdays in July was down 11 percent from June.
The heat appears to be taking a toll on an otherwise strong summer. Tim McClune, owner of Robinson Ale House on Broad Street, said this summer was the best week in the restaurant’s seven-year history. But with the heat index approaching 100 degrees last week, he said sales were down 16 percent.
Heat is good for business, he said. But what about extreme heat? “To some extent, it’s like it’s raining.”
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Jersey Shore businesses like Julio’s Pizza are battling power outages and working hard to fulfill orders in a 90-degree kitchen. Co-owner Erin Willett works inside the restaurant on a hot summer day in Keansburg, New Jersey, Thursday, July 11, 2024.
“The heat came early this year.”
Sergio Rivas, 24, of Wantage, Sussex County, and his girlfriend, Allison Leach, 23, of Highlands, were mostly alone on Broad Street last Wednesday when they strolled there. They had spent the morning in a relatively empty Sandy Hook restaurant, then had lunch at a relatively empty Surf Taco in Red Bank.
Rivas, who is currently touring Yankee Stadium, said this summer has been tough. He normally takes New Jersey Transit to get to Manhattan, but trains are running late due to overheating equipment, so he found an alternative route to catch the PATH train instead, which means a four-hour commute after the tour is over.
“How does it compare to last year? I can feel the difference,” Rivas said. “The heat came earlier this year.”
The ocean is too cold. Constant southerly winds create a condition called upwelling, which pushes away warmer water near the surface and replaces it with cooler water from below.
Bob Bogan, who runs the Gambler fishing charter business in Point Pleasant Beach, said cooler water temperatures have slowed fish activity and some customers have dropped off. Bogan ran a one-day fishing trip last week with about 20 passengers, half the usual number.
Bogan, who has been captain of the Gambler for 44 years, can only remember one summer in a similar situation.
“Sometimes the (wind direction) changes and the fishing picks up quickly,” said Vaughan, 63. “But last Wednesday night we had a really strong wind coming out of the south, which dropped the water temperature again.”
A group of Rutgers University scientists said last week that rising temperatures, new heavy rain patterns across the state, an increase in tornadoes and mass deaths of local fish are signs that the Garden State’s climate is already changing.
According to the National Centers for Environmental Information, temperatures in New Jersey have risen more than 3.5 degrees over the past 125 years.
“The question isn’t whether the world is warming,” said Anthony Broccoli, a professor of atmospheric sciences at Rutgers University, “but whether it’s warming faster than it has in the past.”
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Powerless against power outages
As the heatwaves continue this week, business owners are trying to recoup lost profits.
Mike Metzner opened his new American restaurant, Saltwater Social, in Highland in early June, but shortly after, a severe thunderstorm with wind gusts reaching 62 mph hit the Bayshore around 4 p.m. Saturday when the restaurant lost power.
As it became clear the power outage would take some time to clear, Saltwater Social staff began calling to cancel reservations for about 250 guests. Metzner rested in his air-conditioned truck until power was restored around 11:45 p.m.
Two weeks later, on a Saturday, Saltwater Social lost power again, this time just after guests had arrived, and staff again canceled reservations.
“We just do our best tomorrow,” Metzner said. “We can’t go back in time and fix it. We’re looking into ways to get generators so we can stay open, but it’s tough during the summer.”
Michael L. Diamond is a business reporter who has written about the New Jersey economy and health care industry for more than 20 years. He can be reached at mdiamond@gannettnj.com.
Amanda Oglesby is an Ocean County native who covers education and the environment. She has worked for this news organization for more than 15 years. She can be reached at @OglesbyAPP, aoglesby@gannettnj.com or 732-557-5701.
This article originally appeared in the Asbury Park Press: New Jersey weather: Jersey Shore heat wave hurts businesses as much as rain