Being a meteorologist is a tough job, but someone has to do it. And whenever a major storm hits, there’s no doubt that if you’re a weatherman, you’ll be donning those galoshes and poncho and heading out for a standup. But Washington D.C. WTTG-TV reporter Tucker Barnes took “on the job hazards” to a new level when he headed out to Ocean City, Maryland late last night to check out the boardwalk sea wall.

“It doesn’t taste great,” yelped Barnes through the flying barrage of seafoam, adding, “it doesn’t smell great.” At first, Barnes assumed the seafoam consisted of sand, sea salts and natural organic matter such as phytoplankton, but it took a little googling from the on-desk anchors to read that the foam includes raw sewage and other pollutants. Cue the sad trombone music here.

On the other hand, this wouldn’t be the first time someone has pulled a stunt like this in order to drum up a social media frenzy. Although the #seafoam hashtag was started and self-promoted by FOX5, twitter users already have made it a #1 trending topic in the post-Irene aftermath. The Huffingtonpost and other online sources have picked up the story as well.