In July, typical afternoon highs at Atlantic City Boardwalk run around 83°F (warm). Mid-afternoon sun stands about 59° high, and the sun is up from 5:43 AM to 8:23 PM. Waterfronts and boardwalks are exposed, but sea breeze takes the edge off the heat.
See live sun & real shadows here →| January | 37°F |
| February | 44°F |
| March | 54°F |
| April | 62°F |
| May | 68°F |
| June | 79°F |
| July | 83°F |
| August | 78°F |
| September | 74°F |
| October | 65°F |
| November | 56°F |
| December | 43°F |
Waterfronts and boardwalks are exposed, but sea breeze takes the edge off the heat. See real building shadows over satellite imagery for any time of day: https://isthereshade.com/?anywhere&at=39.34972,-74.45083
Around 8:23 PM local time in mid-July (it shifts through the year). Sunrise is about 5:43 AM.
Atlantic City Boardwalk · Atlantic City, NJ. Data: exact sun position; climate normals from historical weather; live forecast on the interactive view.
A boardwalk is an exposed place by nature, and Atlantic City's is no exception. The famous planks run for miles along the Jersey Shore between the beach and the buildings, and most of that length sits under open sky. What works in your favor here is the ocean itself: the sea breeze coming off the Atlantic takes the edge off the summer heat in a way that an inland pavement of the same width never could.
The temperatures are moderate for a summer beach town. July afternoon highs average about 83°F, the warmest of the year, with August near 78°F and June around 79°F. That is warm rather than dangerous, and the breeze usually keeps a midday walk bearable even when the boards themselves are hot underfoot.
In July the sun rises around 5:43 AM and does not set until about 8:23 PM, giving you a long day on the boards. Early morning is the coolest and quietest, with low light down the length of the walk and the beach mostly empty. By mid-afternoon the sun is high, roughly 59 degrees up at 3 PM, sitting to the west-southwest, so the planks are in near-full sun and the reflected glare off the sand and the water adds to it.
The late-afternoon and evening hours are the boardwalk's best. As the sun sinks toward the west-southwest and then west, the row of casinos and buildings on the inland side begins throwing shade out across the walk, and the temperature slides off its afternoon high while the breeze holds. An evening walk before the 8:23 PM sunset is about as pleasant as this place gets in summer.
Out over the open planks there is little permanent cover, this is a walk in the sun for most of the day. The reliable shade comes from the buildings lining the inland edge. In the morning the ocean side catches sun while the base of the buildings stays shaded; through the afternoon, as the sun moves west, that building shadow lengthens across the boards on the town side. Walking the inland edge in late afternoon keeps you in that moving shade far more than the beach edge does.
To check how the buildings along the boardwalk will be casting shadow at the time you plan to walk, the satellite shadow view shows the shade footprint for your date and hour.
You do not need a heat emergency plan for an 83-degree afternoon with a sea breeze, but a few basics help. Sunscreen is the big one, the reflected light off the sand and ocean burns faster than the mild air temperature suggests. A hat and water make a long walk easier, and if you are out at midday, ducking under a pier or into the shade of the buildings for a few minutes resets you.
Spring and fall are lovely here, with afternoons in the 60s and low 70s that make the exposed planks comfortable at any hour. Even in high summer, the Atlantic breeze keeps Atlantic City friendlier than its wide-open boardwalk first appears.