{"id":16993,"date":"2025-01-06T04:57:03","date_gmt":"2025-01-06T09:57:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/?p=16993"},"modified":"2025-01-06T05:46:31","modified_gmt":"2025-01-06T10:46:31","slug":"lightning-detector-signs-going-up-in-seaside-park-hours-of-monitoring-still-being-debated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/2025\/01\/lightning-detector-signs-going-up-in-seaside-park-hours-of-monitoring-still-being-debated\/","title":{"rendered":"Lightning Detector Signs Going Up in Seaside Park, Hours of Monitoring Still Being Debated"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"A<\/a>

A sign advising beachgoers of Toms River\u2019s lightning detection system at a beach entrance in Ortley Beach. (Photo: Shorebeat)<\/p><\/div>\n

Residents of Seaside Park \u2013 and visitors to the beach next summer \u2013 will be seeing informational signage intended to educate them on the workings of the borough\u2019s lightning detection system.<\/p>\n

Seaside Park installed a lightning detection system last summer \u2013 the latest local town to do so \u2013 and this year will unveil the signage that informs visitors as to what sounds or flashing lights from the detector array mean. Such signage is already installed in some other towns, and in Seaside Park, the borough\u2019s recreation committee helped with the design. Borough Attorney Steven Zabarsky suggested adding symbology in the form of the universal \u201clightning strike symbol\u201d in a shaded triangle that should catch the attention of passersby.<\/p>\n

The lightning detection system uses an internal antenna system as well as digital data to detect lightning strikes up to 10 miles away, and alert both emergency responders and the general public if there appears to be any danger. Lifeguards will close the beaches for at least 30 minutes if the system detects lightning in the area, and the pole-mounted system flashes a yellow light and emits an alert tone. The sign will explain the alerts.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt brings more attention that we have it and that is exists,\u201d said Councilwoman Gina Condos. \u201cBut can we consider again, as we go into the next season, keeping it during operating hours? At least during the beach season, we should keep them on since we have a lot of after-hours activity. There\u2019s kite night, fishing tournaments before the beach open, all kinds of things like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>

A lightning detection sensor array in Ortley Beach, May 2023. (Photo: Shorebeat)<\/p><\/div>\n

\"A<\/a>

A lightning detection sensor array in Brick Township, May 2023. (Photo: Shorebeat)<\/p><\/div>\n

Last summer, the hours of operation for the detection system led to some debate. Zabarsky said a protocol document required by the borough\u2019s insurance carrier dictated a specific policy which states a person must be on call to monitor the system at all times it is active. But some officials and residents said the detection system is most valuable when there aren\u2019t lifeguards actively on duty to remove people from the water. Still other residents voiced concerns about the alert tone going off at late hours, while others countered that the system should be live year-round since there are plenty of people on the beach fishing, surfing and walking at all times.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now it turns off at 8 p.m.,\u201d said Condos. \u201cThere are other noises out there and I don\u2019t think it\u2019s obtrusive to anybody as long as its not after a reasonable bedtime. The likelihood of these lightning storms during the off-season is low, but in-season, the longer the better.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel the same way as you do,\u201d said Councilman Joseph Connor. \u201cWe have to expand the times a little bit from what we had last year. \u201d<\/p>\n

Borough Administrator Karen Kroon said the system is on all winter, but the alert tones and lights are off. Lightning storms are rare during the winter, which is a factor as to whether the system should be actively alerting all the time.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the end of the winter, we will gather all that data and try to zero-in on the dates and times,\u201d said Kroon.<\/p>\n

<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Residents of Seaside Park \u2013 and visitors to the beach next summer \u2013 will be seeing informational signage intended to educate them on the workings of the borough\u2019s lightning detection system. Seaside Park installed a lightning detection system last summer \u2013 the latest local town to do so \u2013 and this year will unveil the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13823,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[1959,2174,32],"class_list":["post-16993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-featured","tag-lightning-detection-system","tag-seaside-park-nj-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/beach_lightning_detection_system_1190-scaled.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pgsn9q-4q5","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16993","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16993"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16993\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16994,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16993\/revisions\/16994"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13823"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}