Category Archives: Weather

Winter Storm

Last week, forecasters predicted a low pressure system to develop into a major winter storm for the east coast. Things turned out as expected with snow dumped to the north of us in dramatic amounts. At home, we had just over an inch of cold rain backed by some gale force winds. Oceanfront properties were threatened by large waves but little damage. Sound front properties saw tide surges of about 3 feet as west winds kicked in.

On Saturday the seas were still running with strong westerlies blowing into the swells. This house at Mirlo Beach was awfully close to the action.

The surf and clouds were stunning.

Wave tops were feathering nicely.

Sadly on the sound side, seas were once again beating the shoreline at an old family cemetery in the Salvo day use area. Headstones and crypts were inundated and falling in the water. Other than that, this winter storm posed no serious problems.

The biggest winter storm I’ve seen here occurred 35 years ago in March of 1980. A coastal low was right on us as temperatures plummeted below freezing, accompanied by a foot of snow with northeast winds gusting to a hundred miles an hour. The blizzard brought white out conditions with zero visibility. Sea tide mixed with floating ice and snow flowed through Rodanthe.

Bruce Midgett rescued Robin Gerald from his old house surrounded by 3 feet of tide and drove him to higher ground.

The Queen Cottage was one of the few oceanfront houses in north Rodanthe. I took this picture from the roof of my place with a 400mm lens. The cottage was eventually washed away in a later storm and no longer exists.

As seas washed around the Queen Cottage, I shot this picture from the deck. The ocean was breaking all the way to the horizon.

Looking back from the Queen Cottage I photographed my house amid streets of sea water and ice.

I had never seen a storm like that before, nor have I seen one quite like it since.

Chasing Rainbows

Chasing a rainbow implies unattainable or delusional objectives. When you see a rainbow, you can’t walk up to it and touch it. Physically it’s always out of reach. They’re elusive. Yet they’re one of the most beautiful natural phenomenon on earth.

They can reveal themselves unexpectedly and last only moments. I’ve tried shooting them countless times. By the time I see them and react, they’ve peaked, and faded away.

This past Thanksgiving Day was an exception. My 92 year old mother was in town with two of my sisters and other family members. To be with them was a special gift. As Denise and I were driving to Avon to join them for dinner, we noticed some faint colors beginning to appear to the east along the beach.

Ramp 25 was the nearest beach access and I walked over to start shooting different vantage points. It just kept filling in, getting deeper and deeper.

Through the viewfinder, I saw too much to take in at once.

By the time I worked my way down to the surf, the sun was getting lower with colors peaking.

Unexpected, it was truly a gift!

Winters Too

The cold weather has been particularly persistent this winter. Even the water temperature around us has dropped more than normal. Behind my house the icy sound was below 32° at times. Three days ago, we had our first snowfall. It lasted a good part of the day and was of a wet variety. It accumulated a couple inches and was pretty. It stuck to the trees in my yard, and I reflected how nice the live oak looked that I transplanted years ago from the old Coast Guard station at Chicamacomico.

Winters

Years ago, the thing that impressed me about Hatteras Island was how temperate the winters could be. The first few years after I moved here, I don’t think it ever went below freezing. I learned that the water surrounding the island acts as a heat sink and tends to keep temperatures more moderate, compared to those to the north and inland.

This year has not been one of those winters. The cold fronts have been colder, stormier and more frequent.

A series of storms took its toll on the Rodanthe Pier. Last week I could see that the end of the pier would soon collapse into the sea.

An hour after I made this shot, the pier became 75 feet shorter. The next day, the owners retrieved some of the timbers washed in on the beach and are resolved to rebuild it.

In the meantime, temperatures have plummeted and the Pamlico Sound froze overnight. The ice sculpted on the shoreline was a sight to behold. There were icicles on the marsh of all different shapes and sizes.

The sound was solid ice for hundreds of yards off shore.

When the waters freeze, the ducks come in wherever they can find open water. At a pond near my house, I found a variety including this Ring-Necked Duck.

A Pie-Billed Grebe was among the group.

There were about 50 Ruddy Ducks.

I was excited to see this Canvasback. It’s a sure sign that winter is far from over, and that it’ll only get colder.

Hurricane Hangover

The radar image taken at 11:15 shows the eye of Arthur directly on Cape Lookout, zeroing in toward Pamlico Sound. By 2AM we began to feel the increasing power of the storm. By 4 AM, we were in a full blown hurricane.

The morning after Arthur came through, I went outside and felt as if I had been spun around and around. There was an air of confusion and destruction. The conditions were not quite on par with Hurricane Irene in 2011, but there was more wind damage this time.

I video surveyed my property briefly, then got out to venture about town.

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They were telling us this was going to be a slow hurricane season, and that’s a little hard to take right now. So far we’re one for one and counting. Tropical systems usually don’t affect us this time of year, but cleaning up after a flood isn’t good anytime.

My place had fairly little damage considering the event. Like many other residents, I do need to make some minor roof repairs. During the height of the storm, the house was getting pelted by branches and pine cones. There was little rainfall, and it was a good thing it moved in and out quickly.

Several weeks ago a couple of young feral kittens began hanging around. On June 24th we caught them and took them to a TNR clinic sponsored by Friends of Felines. They were fixed, got shots, microchipped and left ear clipped. The release part didn’t quite work out, as they got comfortable here. With the hurricane heading right at us, I put them in an enclosure under the house.

At 4 in the morning, the water poured in and they had the sense to climb through an opening to another room where they remained high and dry for the duration. There they stayed all through the following day, and were clearly traumatized but okay.