27 September 2017

Stormy Carolina weather

This hurricane brushing by the coast of North Carolina is an interlude. I was just looking at the Accuweather site to see what the weather is normally like on the N.C. coast in October. Do you know what the "historical average" high temperatures there are like between Oct. 10 and Oct. 24?


Well, Accuweather says the highs run from near 80ºF at the beginning of that period "down" to 75ºF at the end. For those who prefer ºC, that range is between 24 and 26. Those are as high as nice summer-day temperatures for Saint-Aignan. October temperatures here in the Loire Valley are 7 to 10 ºC... 12 to 18 ºF... cooler. So going to N.C. might really feel like a summer holiday to me, since we haven't had a very nice September.


These photos date back to September 2002... fifteen years ago already. The two above were taken on the beaches out at Cape Lookout, which is about 12 miles (20 km) southeast of Morehead City, where I grew up in the 1950s and '60s. Today the weather there probably looks about like my photos here from all those years ago. The wind is blowing about 35 or 40 miles per hour there today, with higher gusts.


You can see how little land there is in Carteret County, on the N.C. coast, compared to the amount of sky and water surrounding everything. The photo above shows the shoreline of a place called Harkers Island, which is protected from ocean waves and surf by the barrier islands of which Cape Lookout is a part, and which are now a U.S. national park. The only way to get to Cape Lookout is by boat. Or I guess you could swim it...

13 comments:

  1. 80°F or 26°C is my kind of temperature. All year round would be lovely!

    When does the hurricane season end officially?

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    1. They say the danger of hurricanes hitting the U.S. coast is over by about November 1.

      You should have moved to Hawaii many decades ago, CHM. They have that weather you like.

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    2. These three photos are really excellent.

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  2. Is that grass in the first photo what is called Sea oats or Uniola paniculata? I understand it is protected and you can’t pick it up. Is that right?

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    1. The Sea oats equivalent in France is Oyat or Ammophila arenaria.

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    2. Yes, those are sea oats. Since these barrier islands are now the Cape Lookout National Seashore, a U.S. national park, I doubt that it is legal to cut or pull up any plants at all. Plants like sea oats do help stabilize the beach and the dunes.

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    3. And yes, it does appear that the sea oats growing on the coasts of the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida are protected and can't be cut or dug out.

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  3. Supposedly Hawaii is the state where the people are happiest. Maybe because the weather is so nice. 80 degrees is perfect in my book.

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    1. I think it's supposed to be in the upper 80s in Morehead today.

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  4. Thanks for the NC photos. I had a wonderful 10 years in New Bern, NC and miss the great friends I made there.

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    1. I liked your comment on Walt's blog about saving one of those vine trunks that Callie brought home as a good memory of our 10 years together with her.

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  5. I loved our visit to Cape Lookout. I thought of you growing up in that area when we went on our lighthouse tour of North and South Carolina.

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    1. When I was in college, a man in Morehead (who was a family friend of Monet's, coincidentally) had a big sailboat that he rented out for sailing tours. I remember a group of us from my high school class hired the boat for a day one summer. It was a fantastic way to see the lighthouse. I guess I've been out to the cape a dozen times in my life. One thing I'd like to do is climb up to the top for the views, but I see it's too late to do that this year. Besides, my mother, sister, and I are going to be too busy with MA's move.

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