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CAPE HATTERAS NORTH CAROLINA NOR'EASTER
April 15, 2007: For mid April, we usually don't see nor'easters up the east coast. Since the last big one was in November and the Outer Banks took a real beating, Bill Coyle and I decided to head down early in the morning of the fifteenth. The storm was strengthening quickly through the morning while over central North Carolina. The winds were out of the south all day steady in the mid 40's with several gusts over 50mph. We went to an area where the shoreline cuts back and becomes an east west stretch for the most part. This area if I am correct is known around the island as the point. From this area we could see the Hatteras Lighthouse. We worked up and down Hwy. 12 through the day shooting video and some photos during the storm. We stopped by the Avon Pier just north of the lighthouse where we talked to the people who own and run the pier. They let us out on to the pier to shoot video as a line of storms moved in across the sound. The storms passed us by to the north so we left and headed north where we found flooded streets due to the heavy rains that had fallen. After shooting some video and photos we headed north to Nags Head for Bill to upload some video to the Weather Channel. We decided to leave the Outer Banks and head back north into Virginia to head off the severe storms moving in from the west. Those storms had a history of tornado warnings so we thought it was a good move. After reaching home, the temps were in the mid 70's after the sun had been out for a few hours. In a matter of minutes, the temps dropped into the low 60's as the storms from the west gusted out and collapsed and pushed out rain cooled air ahead of them. All in all, the day really was not worth the trip and the 3:30am start time! Below are the photos taken and the video is still to come. CAPE HATTERAS NOR-EASTER VIDEO: See short video of large waves and wind battering the coastal area.
Here you can see the Hatteras Lighthouse across the beach near the point and the strong winds blowing the sand across the beach.
Along Hwy. 12, heavy rains from some thunderstorms left the road flooded for a few travelers to deal with.
Huge waves smash into closed Rodanthe Pier. This pier has been closed since the nor'easter in November destroyed about a 100 feet of the pier and it has not yet been repaired.
Friend Bill Coyle shooting video for the Weather Channel at Rodanthe Pier.
More large waves smash the pier as the winds were gusting near 45-50mph.
Late in the day after reaching Virginia, these are the storms that gusted out and moved through after cooling things down. This is from the Portsmouth City Park area.
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