‘Minor erosion’ reported at most New Jersey beaches after latest nor’easter

This month’s string of  four nor’easters have taken a bite out of some New Jersey beaches. 

New Jersey’s Department of Environmental Protection says 55 of the 66 beaches it surveyed had minor erosion while 10 had moderate erosion. 

Jon Miller, a professor of coastal engineering at Stevens Institute of Technology, said the storms pulled a lot of sand off the beach and into the ocean. 

“Some communities are going to have to do some sculpting of the beach, kind of evening out some of the large vertical cuts that may exist. These cliffs are generally maybe 4 feet or 5 feet. They’re not massive cliffs,” he said. “But the communities will have to go in and kind of smooth those out just so that the public, when they access the beach, it’s not a hazard for them.”

Calmer weather will help restore the sand swept into the ocean, said Stewart Farrell, director of Stockton University’s Coastal Research Center.

“No storms means low-energy waves, which means the incoming tide every 12-and-a-half hours acts like a big push broom shoving sand back toward the shoreline where the waves rush up on the beach and deposit it as a layer building up the berm pretty much as it was before,” he said.

Shore town officials are hoping the beaches will be back in shape for the summer tourism season.