Last night as we listened to the news, I was impressed by how worried the weather broadcasters were about all the wet stuff freezing on the highways.  It was just at 32F when we went to bed.

I was a little surprised to find it at 23F this morning.  It had cooled so quickly that the last few raindrops had frozen in our window screens.

Even stranger is the small heron pond next door to us.  I have watched this morning as it freezes over in front of my eyes.  I keep doing a double take as the ice expands.

When I went out to get the paper, the dock was coated in ice and some of the last rains had frozen as they tried to drain across the driveway.

There were a few wisps of snow on the driveway.  If you look closely at the blog picture, you can see some white stuff on our roof.  From the flag and my frozen face, I can tell you that we still have a strong northerly wind.  read more »

If you listened to television yesterday, it would have been easy to guess that snow has never been seen in Eastern North Carolina.

Last night as we went to bed, I saw pictures on the Internet of snow in Kitty Hawk.  With the temperature dropping last night, I suspected we might see some white stuff this morning, but it was not in the cards.

I got up early, but even by then the temperature was up to 32.3F.  The temperature had gotten down to freezing just long enough for some ice to form our dock and some of the high branches of the pine trees.

Just before 11 AM, the temperatures have worked their way up to 34F.  That has helped to melt the ice from everything.

Folks to the west and north of us are not so lucky.  We have friends near East Bend, NC. They are reporting about 9 inches of snow with lots of sleet falling now. 

An old friend in Mt. Airy tells me that they have close to 10 inches of snow, but some sleet from earlier in the day has held down the total.  However, he says it has changed back to snow, and they still could get a few more inches.
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As is often the case, the nice weather just cannot hang on for more than a few days at a time in the winter.

However, it looks like we might get a slight taste of winter on Saturday.  That's fine with me,  because I know that whatever we get will be a whole lot less than the western part of the state receives.

In checking some of the forecasts, I see that Boone could get up to sixteen inches of snow, and even my former hometown, Mt. Airy, could get fifteen inches.

Even farther south close to Winston-Salem, the forecasts are calling for close to a foot of snow.  I spent many years as a youth in Lewisville, NC, just west of Winston-Salem.  I cannot ever remember getting a foot of snow.

One thing that I do know is that there are not a lot of real snow plows in North Carolina so if tomorrow's storm is a big one, we might just shut the state down for a day or two to let that snow melt.

The rains actually stopped fairly early yesterday.  I had heard predictions of high surf conditions so I took a couple minutes to check it out on a trip to get some gas for my car.

As you can see, the water was stirred up.  I did not see any huge waves or damage to the beach, but I was impressed with the amount of foam the surf had created.

When we lived in Canada, and our children were small, they would enjoy chasing the foam around a beach after a winter storm. They always managed to get wet which usually brought an end to the game.

Speaking of wet, the latest rains have caused some more minor street flooding on Emerald Isle.  When I stopped for gas I could hear the pumps running.  Even the road leading to the Wilco gas station had water across two of the three lanes.

There were also fire hoses across Islander Drive as they continue to pump water from one section of the island to the next.

I am sure people are ready for some dry weather, but it looks like we have another chance of more precipitation by the weekend.

After looking out my back door this morning, I was glad to note that the tide is headed down.  With the heavy winds from the south we already have a higher than tide this morning.

The way the wind is blowing we might not even notice low tide.  Our weather radar map is very impressive this morning.

We seemed to have gotten a little over an inch of rain, but as has been the case recently, we were never able to dry out from last week's 1.5 inches of rain.  The ground just remains soggy.

I suspect some of the roadside ditches over close to the Point at Emerald Isle might well be challenged once again.
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With the weather that the east coast has seen this year, you have to grab the good days when you can.

Today we were still catching up from traveling, but as the today dawned with blue skies and relatively warm temperatures, there was little debate about getting over to the beach.

About four o'clock we headed out and made a stop by the trash transfer depot so we could drop off our recycling.  Then we headed straight for the beach.

We ended up down at Third Street Beach which is one of my favorites.  The winter waves have rounded and smoothed a few of the edges that were there earlier in the winter.

We saw a boat speeding down the shore and some pelicans cruising up the shore.  I certainly enjoyed being down by the water even for a few minutes.

I was surprised to find some evidence of folks walking barefooted in the sand, but it would have taken much to get me to shed my tennis shoes.

I am not ready to tackle the water yet, but give it three months, and I will be willing to stick my toes into the surf.  read more »

We got back to the coast last night after fleeing freezing rain in the Virginia mountains.  We actually made our way down Fancy Gap to the North Carolina foothills late Wednesday afternoon.

We ended up in Mount Airy, NC which years ago was home.  We took advantage of the time to visit with some relatives and dust off some memories.

Mount Airy is home to Snappy Lunch and lots of Andy Griffith memorabilia.  They say you cannot ever go home again, but in our case we can if we chose to since our old home is now the Sobotta Manor Bed & Breakfast.  However, this trip we decided that a Hampton Inn might be more appropriate.
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We are back around the circle to warmth.  Yesterday was a very pleasant day.  Today is wet but warm.  I noted with some degree of happiness that it is warmer in Cape Carteret than where my college roommate is staying in Florida.

With him deserting his NC home in the false hopes of warmth, I think he deserves all the cold that he gets.

Actually today's temperature is a lot warmer than it was last year at this time.  In fact I believe January 17, 2009 might have been our coldest day of the winter at 20.5 degree Fahrenheit.

The 62F we are registering this morning is a great improvement over last year, and the first two weeks of this year which have to be the coldest two weeks I have seen since we moved to the Crystal Coast.

However, as I said in my post over at Crystal Coast Living, it is pretty hard to call the weather we had cold.  After all, my jacket is the lightest unlined jacket that Land's End carries, and most of the time I neglect to wear socks with my sneakers.
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It is already 48F, and we have not made it to ten o'clock this morning.  That means the forecasts of getting to 60F this afternoon will likely be accurate.

Yesterday the heating seemed to stop early in the day, but it was an improvement over earlier in the week.  Last night we only made it down to 30F so there was just a light skim of ice on what had been open water yesterday afternoon.

I am guessing the afternoon sun will take out the ice that we still have this morning.

Our weather looks to be seasonable for the next couple of weeks.  I am pretty sure that most people would like to forget the last two weeks of cold weather.

I am hoping to be able to drop my boat into the water this afternoon.  At least there is water under the boat instead of ice.

I have geo-tagged a few photos if you are interested in touring some area sights.

It was another frosty morning here in Carteret County.  The quiet waters leading into the White Oak River froze almost to the edges once again.

However, it is warming up quickly.  We have clear blue skies, bright sun, and a a temperature in the shade already at 37F at 10 AM.

I know the shore birds are first in line among those wishing for the ice to disappear.  I suspect the fish are next in line.

I am certainly looking forward to it staying over 40F so my heat pump can start acting like a heat pump without having the little electric coil turned on and spinning my power meter.

The only consolation is that practically everyone on the east coast of the United States has gotten this taste of winter.

Even Britain got covered up by snow.  If you check out the national snow cover maps, you will see that the mountains in both Virginia and North Carolina are still covered with snow.

In fact there is snow all the way through northern parts of Georgia and Alabama. 
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It is always nice having some entertainment at breakfast.  I normally get up first, check my email, and have a couple of cups of coffee.  Usually things are pretty quiet here on our little gut which runs out to the White Oak River.

This morning was a little different.  First I noticed a white heron wading and fishing in the open water of the little swampy area in the vacant lot next to us.

A few minutes later, a blue heron showed up to challenge the white heron for the tiny pool of open water.  I have never seen herons fight for their territory.

While the birds did not actually fight, they were very aggressive towards each other.

The blue heron is a very large and impressive bird.  That did not seem to matter.  The white heron did not back down when the blue heron tried to chase him out of the water. 

The blue heron is also very skittish and camera shy, and he might have seen me taking pictures through the window, but for whatever reason, he backed up and flew away.
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Yesterday was another cool day.  Last night we were down to 23F so the ice in the gut survived another evening.

As you can see from the picture, the ice is not out in the White Oak which is a good thing.

Most days last week, we had open water in the gut during the afternoons.  Saturday the only open water was around the edges.

Today we are supposed to get into the forties and then by Wednesday or Thursday, we will be in the fifties.  I even saw temperatures near seventy by the end of the month.

I think everyone is ready for a warming trend.  I am tired of hearing people talking about moving to Mexico.

Usually the talk turns to Florida, but the temperatures in Florida have only been marginally better than they are here.

At least here, we are used to seeing these temperatures once or twice during the course of a winter.  What we have seen is an extended cold snap.

Other areas have seen temperatures that are very abnormal.

Still I cannot complain, my footwear is still tennis shoes, and my coast is the lightest weight unlined fleece jacket that Land's End sells.   read more »

Yesterday we were up in the Stella area showing property.  We had a few minutes between appointments so we drove up to the bridge in Stella. There is a new sign calling it Boondocks landing but it has not changed much from these photos that I snapped a few years ago.  Yesterday I took the time to snap a few new pictures including the one in the post.

For those not familiar with the White Oak River, it is considered a blackwater river and has a fair amount of tidal action.  The tides at our home near Hampton Bay are mostly in the range of two feet though they can be much higher.
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Yesterday afternoon, after having some warmer temperatures for a few hours, we had some nice open water.  I know everyone was hoping the big freeze of 2009 was coming to an end.

However, you have to figure that if there is sleet down in the Tampa-Orlando corridor in Florida, that this cold weather has some staying power.

The good news is that the forecast for next week seems to be settling in on some renewed warmth for our area.

A day or two of fifties and sixties will help to erase the memories of these cold mornings.  We got down to 24F last night but we had a couple of nights earlier in the week when we were a few degrees colder.

The good news is that the temperature is going up today.  Yesterday we went downhill all day.  We were in the forties in the morning and by the time we headed back from Morehead City, the temperatures were in the low thirties.  read more »

We were having a hard time controlling our laughs when we watched last evening as area schools were scrambling to delay their openings this morning based on a potential snow storm of perhaps one inch.

I realize snow is not something that we see a lot of in Eastern North Carolina, but we need to retain just a little realityin the minds of adults when the word snow is mentioned.

I woke up at around 5 AM this morning, and I happened to check our thermometer.  Sometime after we went to bed the temperature reached 52F before declining to 43F at 5 AM.

We did have some very light rain that dampened the driveways, but even at 43F, we were in no danger of seeing any snow.

When I managed to get outside in the daylight to check the water behind our home, I found some open water for the first time this week and the temperature dropping slightly to 42F.

While we appear to be headed straight downhill to some of the coldest temperatures of this winter, it is nice to see some water instead of just ice even if it is temporary.

It is surprising how warm 42F feels after the thirties that we have seen this month.

Winter has already over stayed its welcome on the Crystal Coast so it is not surprising to find some ice that is beginning to look like a permanent part of the landscape.

Each morning when I walk out on the dock, I look for signs that the ice might be weakening, but this week it looks like the ice is becoming thicker and more entrenched.

The cracks and pops of the ice adjusting to the rising tide are normal to me now.  With everything frozen, there is little other noise in the morning.

Even the herons that found some open water earlier in the week have disappeared.

Now the weather forecasters are calling for perhaps as much as one inch of snow on Thursday night.  While it will not be enough to isolate us, it will likely stick because of all the cold weather that we have had.

If the snow comes it will be the second snow in thirteen months which might even be some kind of record.
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The weather folks are calling this the worst winter in the last twenty five years.  That's hard to measure since I haven't live in any place for that long.

However, I know that by the end of the week, the normally watery gut leading to the White Oak River will have been frozen for longer than any other period of time I have seen.  This is our fourth winter on the coast.

This period of cold weather is already the longest that I have seen.  It is the first time in four years that we have barely gotten above freezing for two or three days in a row.

Today is supposed to be better with temperatures reaching into the low forties.   While we are "cold" compared to what we are used to feeling, we are still managing well over twelve hours a day in above freezing temperatures.

And if you can find a spot in the sun and sheltered from the wind, it is actually pretty nice outside.  I was out with only a sweatshirt on this morning, but that might just be my Canadian years showing.
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Here I am back on the coast, and I still cannot escape the cold.  Our Christmas holiday was wonderful but snowy.  We arrived in Roanoke, Va. just as the snow was starting.  We ended up with 20 inches of the white stuff.  When we left two weeks later, there was still plenty of snow on the ground, and it had received a new coat of white day before.

I saw the temperatures here on the coast swing upwards to 60F briefly the day before we left Roanoke. Then they dropped into the forties Friday, New Year's Day.  It appears that today we will have trouble getting past the mid-thirties today.

Last night our temperature got down to 21F which is pretty cold for this area.  Considering the weather that is north of us, it was no surprise.  The Canadian Maritimes is being whacked by a blizzard today.
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