All Monmouth County Parks Are Open Monday

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — For those who just love to get outside in this weather: Thompson Park, and all other Monmouth County parks, are open Monday for visitors who want to hike in the snow, sled or cross-country ski on their own.

That means the very popular Holmdel Park sled hill is currently open Monday, Feb. 1, as is Wolf Hill sled hill in Oceanport.

Just please use caution and good judgement when driving on any roads. State officials, including Gov. Murphy, are asking people to avoid driving in the snowstorm. New Jersey is under a State of Emergency, which means travel should be limited and residents are urged to stay home.

“This is a big one,” Gov. Murphy said during his Monday news conference, telling New Jersey residents, “If you don’t need to be out, don’t go out.”

Murphy said the early afternoon will be the “teeth” of the storm and the state Department of Transportation has 3,900 pieces of equipment deployed to deal with the storm. Murphy also said the storm will likely last until Tuesday night.

The Thompson Park cross country ski hut will open Tuesday morning, said Andrew Spears, assistant director of the Monmouth County Park System. You can rent cross country ski and boots at the hut, located inside Thompson Park. The exact opening time will be posted to their Winter Activities page on the Monmouth County Parks website.

As of 11 a.m. Monday, there are no motor vehicle accidents so far in Middletown, said Middletown administrator Anthony Mercantante. Nobody is stuck in the snow and there is very little traffic on the roads. There is also minimal flooding to report, even though high tide is right about now. There are no power outages in Middletown so far.

JCP&L has about 20 customers without power in Monmouth County, and the majority are in Wall Township. Their power should be restored by 1 p.m., if not sooner, said a JCP&L spokesman.

As the snow continues to come down hard Monday morning, Monmouth County Park rangers are currently clearing parking lots, walkways and are getting ready to groom the trails for wintertime fun.

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