Beach Patrol in Ocean City says they are ramping up for rough conditions ahead of Labor Day Weekend

OCEAN CITY, MD – Hurricane Idalia’s winds are stirring up surf conditions on Ocean City’s beaches ahead of the holiday weekend, resulting in high winds, taller waves, and rough surf across the resort town.

Ocean City Beach Patrol tells 47ABC the conditions caused riptide risks yesterday, but strong winds are helping to reduce that risk.

The silver lining has been grey skies and poor conditions have kept crowds away from the beach, but with the weather expected to break and turn fair ahead into the weekend, they are deploying extra guards and equipment to help respond to evolving weather conditions.

“Today we have a really strong longshore current blowing from north to south,  obviously, with the wind that we have here, depending on what the storms do, how close they come to us, we’re having a hard time trying to anticipate what the conditions are going to be like when they actually come if they come closer to us,” said Ocean City Beach Patrol Luitenant Ward Kovacs.

Lieutenant ward Kovacs tells us to always swim near a life guard stand, and that beach patrol will have upwards of 15 ATVs deployed this weekend to help fill coverage gaps between the stands.