How Many NJ Towns Will Be Underwater By 2050? See New Map

NEW JERSEY — Will your New Jersey town be underwater in the next 25 years?

With the Sea Level Rise Viewer map projections from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, you can check how climate impacts like rising sea levels can affect the Garden State, especially coastal towns down the shore.

Sea levels could rise between 10 to 12 inches — on par with the amount that sea levels rose during the span of the 20th century — by 2050, affecting seaside municipalities like Brigantine, Ocean City and Point Pleasant Beach, according to a report by NOAA.

"Sea level rise will create a profound shift in coastal flooding over the next 30 years by causing tide and storm surge heights to increase and reach further inland," the report reads. "By 2050, “moderate” (typically damaging) flooding is expected to occur, on average, more than 10 times as often as it does today, and can be intensified by local factors."

NOAA's projection map also shows flooding frequency, which has increased among coastal cities like Atlantic City in the last few years, according to the data. The map also highlights “vulnerability” zones, with a slew of South Jersey municipalities in the red.

Another NOAA report published in 2017 found that 252 coastal towns and cities would have their homes submerged and property of more than half the population in 479 additional communities would also be underwater by 2100.

Those findings included 100 percent submersion projections for 20 New Jersey towns and 90 percent submersion for 26 others:

1. Atlantic City 100 percent
2. Longport 100 percent
3. Margate City 100 percent
4. Moonachie 100 percent
5. North Wildwood 100 percent
6. Ocean City 100 percent
7. Ocean Gate 100 percent
8. Seaside Heights 100 percent
9. Seaside Park 100 percent
10. Strathmere 100 percent
11. Teterboro 100 percent
12. Ventnor City 100 percent
13. West Wildwood 100 percent
14. Wildwood 100 percent
15. Wildwood Crest 100 percent
16. Brigantine 100 percent
17. Stone Harbor 100 percent
18. Sea Isle City 100 percent
19. Avalon 100 percent
20. Dover Beaches South (section of Toms River) 100 percent
21. Diamond Beach 135 99 percent
22. Sea Bright 99 percent
23. Surf City 99 percent
24. Hancocks Bridge 99 percent
25. Beach Haven 99 percent
26. Bay Head 99 percent
27. Lavallette 98 percent
28. North Beach Haven 98 percent
29. Port Monmouth 98 percent
30. West Cape May 98 percent
31. Salem 97 percent
32. Ship Bottom 97 percent
33. Cape May Point 97 percent
34. Keansburg 97 percent
35. Pennsville 97 percent
36. Dover Beaches North (section of Toms River) 96 percent
37. Cape May 96 percent
38. Beach Haven West 95 percent
39. Mantoloking 95 percent
40. Port Norris 95 percent
41. North Middletown 93 percent
42. Barnegat Light 93 percent
43. Harvey Cedars 93 percent
44. Monmouth Beach 93 percent
45. Little Ferry 90 percent
46. Point Pleasant Beach 90 percent

A separate estimate from the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change projects a 3.6-foot rise in sea levels by 2100, though a rise by as much as 6.6 feet "cannot be ruled out." That scenario could plunge as many as 19 New Jersey communities into the water in the process.

Seaside Heights, Seaside Park, Lavallette, Point Pleasant Beach, Bay Head, Long Beach Island, Wildwood, Cape May, North Wildwood, Stone Harbor, Sea Isle City, Avalon, Brigantine and Ocean City could suffer tremendously and be almost completely under water if the sea level were to rise more than three feet, the report read.

Monmouth County – particularly those areas hurt by Superstorm Sandy – would be hurt, too. One projection photo released by NOAA showed a park bench literally sitting in the middle of a waterway in Lake Como.

“The climate emergency is a race we are losing — but it is a race we can win if we change our ways now,” U.N. Secretary General António Guterres said in the report. “Even our language has to adapt: What once was called ‘climate change’ is now truly a ‘climate crisis.’ …

"We are seeing unprecedented temperatures, unrelenting storms and undeniable science," Guterres added.