Locals Only The storm is here

The early morning sun hit me square in the eyes.

That paired with the sound of crashing waves in the distance coming in through the opened salt stained windows was as good of an alarm clock as I could ask for.

Mother nature was telling me it was time to wake up, I abided.

Still groggy and covered in sand from the beach bonfire the night before, I rolled out of bed. The wooden shack floor gave its familiar good morning creek as I took my first step in my morning routine: light stretching followed by coffee.

I stepped outside to enjoy the overly strong brew in the hammock and felt it…a sense so familiar after having grown up along the New Jersey shore it sent goosebumps up my arms.

There was a late summer chill in the air, and this time of the year in the northeast it could only mean one thing: waves were coming.

I rushed back inside, grabbed my laptop, pulled up surf forecast to confirm my intuition.

A cold front was working its way down from the north, creating what’s known as a nor’easter thanks to the weather system's collision with the warmer waters.

Best part, its arrival was the holiday weekend.

Not only would the storm clear our beach towns of unwanted tourists from North Jersey and NYC, but we’d also have 10-foot swells to ride. A drastic shift in fortune, after a summer full of obnoxious tourists we call “bennys” and choppy 3- to 5-foot waves.enter link description here