Have you ever wondered what the beach flags mean?
For your safety, learn about the meaning of beach flags
Now that we are in the final stretch of summer before school starts again, there is nothing better than spending a day relaxing at one of the Bay State’s beautiful beaches.
However, the number of closed beaches in Massachusetts continues to rise. This weekend, over 50 beaches were closed due to unsafe swimming water.
The Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH) states that swimming in the water at these closed beaches poses a risk of illness due to the high concentration of bacteria. Symptoms can range from nausea and vomiting to sore throat and fever.
Here is a complete list of closed beaches to avoid when planning your weekend.
Which beaches in Massachusetts are currently closed due to bacteria?
The following Massachusetts beaches, listed by city, will be closed effective Friday, August 16:
- Amherst:
- Puffer fish pond (bacterial excess, other)
- Swimming hole in Stanley St. at Cushman Bridge (bacterial overflow)
- Ashby: Damon Pond Beach (bacterial overflow)
- Ashland: Main beach of Ashland Reservoir (bacterial overshoot)
- Barn stable:
- Wequaquet Lake Town (harmful cyanobacterial bloom)
- Wequaquet Lake Yacht Club (harmful cyanobacterial bloom)
- Braintree: Smith Beach (bacterial excess)
- Brewster: Upper Mill Pond (harmful cyanobacterial bloom)
- Unity: Walden Pond (Other)
- Danvers: Sandy beach (excess bacteria)
- Dartmouth: Moses Smith Creek (bacterial excess)
- Framingham: Learned Pond Beach (bacterial excess)
- Grafton: Silver Lake Beach (Other)
- Harwich: Sand pond (harmful cyanobacterial bloom)
- Haverhill: Blockage of the pond (bacterial overflow)
- Holland: Collette Drive Beach (bacterial overflow)
- Kingston: Gray’s (bacterial predominance)
- Lowell: Merrimac River (bacterial overflow)
- Lynn:
- Kings (bacterial excess)
- Lynn Shore Beach (bacterial overflow)
- Nahant: Nahant Beach (bacterial overflow)
- Nantucket: Sesachacha Pond (harmful cyanobacterial bloom)
- Natick: Cochituate State Park Beach (bacterial overgrowth, harmful cyanobacterial bloom)
- North Andover:
- Frye Pond Beach (bacterial overflow)
- Stevens Pond (bacterial excess)
- Northampton: Musante Beach (bacterial excess)
- Oxford: Carbuncle Pond (harmful cyanobacterial bloom)
- Plymouth: Nelson Park (bacterial overgrowth)
- Quincy: Norton Beach (bacterial overflow)
- Salem:
- Camp Naumkeag (Other)
- Children’s Island (bacterial surplus)
- Ocean Avenue (bacterial excess)
- Willow Avenue (bacterial excess)
- Saugus: Pearce Lake in the Breakheart Reserve (bacterial excess)
- Shutesbury: Lake Wyola (bacterial excess)
- Springfield: Bass Pond (harmful cyanobacterial bloom)
- Swampscott: Kings (Other)
- Templeton:
- Beamans Pond Campground (bacterial overshoot)
- Day use of Beamans Pond (bacterial overshoot)
- Townsend: Pearl Hill Pond Beach (bacterial overflow)
- Truro: Longnook (Other)
- Wayland: Wayland Town Beach (harmful cyanobacteria bloom)
- West Stockbridge: Card Pond Beach (bacterial excess)
- West Tisbury: Seth’s Pond (bacterial excess)
- Westborough: Lake Chauncy Beach (harmful cyanobacteria bloom)
- Westfield: Hampton Ponds Kingsley Beach (bacterial excess)
- Winchendon: Lake Dennison State Park (bacterial overflow)
- Winchester: Shannon Beach in Upper Mystic (excess bacteria)
- Winthrop: Halford (bacterial excess)
- Worcester:
- Public beach at Indian Lake on Sherburne Ave (harmful cyanobacteria bloom)
- Lake Quinsigamond-Regatta Point Beach (bacterial overflow)
- Shore Park (harmful cyanobacterial bloom)
Most beaches are closed due to bacterial over-limits, which means that bacteria levels in the water exceed the limits set by the MDPH.
Beaches listed in the “Other” category may be closed due to various chemical or physical hazards such as undercurrents and poor visibility.
Beach weather this weekend: AccuWeather Warning: Storm will cause rip currents offshore this weekend
When will the beaches in Massachusetts reopen?
According to the MDPH website, beaches cannot reopen until bacteria levels return to safe ranges, so there is no set time period for closure.
The status of a closed beach can be checked on the website’s water quality dashboard, which is updated daily at 9:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m.
National Hurricane Center warns beachgoers in the Atlantic
Meteorologists are warning beachgoers of potentially “life-threatening surf and rip current conditions” due to Hurricane Ernesto this weekend. The storm is not expected to make landfall in New England.
“Even though Ernesto remains well offshore of the U.S. East Coast, beachgoers should be aware of the significant risk of deadly rip currents that will develop later this week,” the National Hurricane Center said earlier this week.
According to the National Weather Service, rip currents are strong currents of water that can sweep people away from the shore. They can be deadly: NWS data shows rip currents have killed nearly 30 people this year alone.
If you get caught in a rip current, the NWS says you should call for help, stay calm and stay above water while waiting for help. Don’t swim directly against a rip current; swim parallel to shore.
Melina Khan contributed to this report.
