After a really nice March 2012 when each day either the beach or the water seemed to be calling me even when the wind was blowing, the weather on Friday, April 6, does seem like a break from spring.

While it is too early to tell for certain, initial signs are that unlike March when only three days saw below normal high temperatures.  April might give us temperatures closer to the average with only nine days instead of twenty-eight days above normal.  read more »

I tend to watch my favorite beaches pretty carefully, and on October 14, my wife and I went up to Third St. Beach on Emerald Isle for one of our regular visits.  We were really surprised by the changes in the beach.

While I have seen a lot of sand movement this fall, what happened at Third St. is the most dramatic that I seen especially considering it happened quickly, and during a time when there were no named storms around.

Perhaps just catching this change makes me guilty as charged when it comes to being on the beach a lot.

A couple of days ago a friend suggested that my activities were beginning to look a lot like those of a beach bum.  I took it as a compliment.  Actually in a very quiet real estate market, walking the beach is good research.

I have another strong defense.  Taking a hike on the beach is also good exercise and a great way to get a little fishing in during the fall.   read more »

Thunder is rumbling along the coast the morning of September 7, 2011.  We are just catching a bit of the remnants of Tropical Storm Lee.

Some of the thunder and lightning has been impressive, but we actually were in need of some rain.  Ten days after Hurricane Irene dumped over ten inches of rain on us, things were starting to dry out.  I actually ran our sprinklers yesterday and watered my surviving tomato plants.

As noon has slipped up on me, there appears to be some blue sky to the west of us over Swansboro.  The rain has stopped at least for now though the forecast says that thunderstorms might re-develop this afternoon.

The morning's rains brought us somewhere between one half an inch and three quarters of an inch of precipitation depending on which one of my rain gauges one can believe.  Likely I will just average it out and say that we got a little over six tenths of an inch of rain.

The temperature actually dropped briefly to the mid-seventies. We have not been below 80F for a number of days, and as the morning finishes we are just now recovering to 80F. It will be warm this afternoon.
 read more »

The Easter weekend marks the beginning of the beach season along North Carolina's Crystal Coast.  While we didn't have a perfect weekend, we had a very nice one, and I believe we had some good crowds in spite of the higher gas prices.

I also think that summer is just around the corner just like the channel to the White Oak River is just a turn away from the egret in my picture.

Our high temperatures were close to eighty degrees for most of the weekend.  However, persistent winds off the still cool ocean waters made it seem somewhat cooler if you were on the beach.

While the river and sound temperatures are above or close to seventy degrees, the ocean still hasn't gotten over the 70F hump yet.  There were plenty of people on the beach and some in the water, but there will be nicer times for playing in the saltwater.
 read more »

It took until the day after Christmas until it arrived, but we now have a dusting of snow here on the Crystal Coast.

We are making out easy compared to friends farther to the west in North Carolina and other friends scattered up the east coast.  Our relatives living near one of the original Styers' Mills in Yadkin County, NC seemed to be close to the epi-center of the North Carolina Christmas Day snow storm.  They got seven inches of snow.

We heard second hand from the son of a traveler that some of the worst travel yesterday was between Greensboro and Winston-Salem and then between Wilkesboro and Boone.

Our little dusting of snow is just frosting on the cake of Christmas. It is a nice holiday touch.  If the snow will hang around for a while, we might have some snowy beach pictures later in the day.

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.

It is the time of year for things to slow down over on the beaches.  While it has been warm enough for beach walks, most of us have been busy with the holidays.

Then there has been the wet weather.  We have had enough rain to float some good sized boats.  There are still some wet spots over on Emerald Isle.

I snapped the picture in the post over on Emerald Isle yesterday at the Western Regional Access just off Islander Drive.

We usually avoid that beach access until winter, just because of the crowds.  I think the crowds are definitely gone.  With all the rain even the fishing has not been particularly good in the last couple of weeks.

Tomorrow is supposed to be cold (fifties) and rainy here on the coast.  That is much better than the western part of the state, the mountains of Virginia, and a broad area from Richmond to Philadelphia, all of which are supposed to get a few inches of snow.

Today is the earliest date ever when parts of Texas have received snow.  I hope we can leave all snow records alone this year.  read more »