Growing risk of Coastal Flooding along the Outer Banks

Ethan Clark

September 22, 2026 at 10:11:05 PM

Our Nor’easter will start to get going by tomorrow evening. I'm still expecting a Coastal Flooding risk along the Outer Banks. Winds along the Outer Banks will gust 30-45 MPH tomorrow; coastal flooding risk will begin by tomorrow evening, but based on the data, the greatest risk of moderate coastal flooding will be with high tide Thursday morning, Thursday night, and Friday morning. We will likely see flooding along Highway 12 on Pea Island, south of Oregon Inlet and potentially in Buxton. So if you need to leave Hatteras Island because you must be off the Island Thursday/Friday or Saturday morning, I would do it tomorrow. 40-50MPH wind gusts likely Thursday into Friday along the Outer Banks.

There will be a risk of some Coastal Flooding North of Oregon Inlet, but generally less of a risk to Highway 12 in these locations.

Highway 12 at the North end of Ocracoke could also become impassable at times.

You'll have to leave Ocracoke most likely via second sound class ferry service to Swansquarter or Cedar Island, but high winds could impact that too.

I'll continue to monitor.

#noreaster #outerbanks

-Ethan

Mountains

110°F

Raleigh area

CADEN NELSON

Strong to Severe Storms possible across Central NC today.

Ethan Clark

Aug 3, 2024

1 min read

⛈️ Severe Weather Update: Weather is not a boring job, that's for sure. In addition to tracking the tropics, we have the risk of Severe Weather today. A trough will approach from the mountains, allowing scattered to numerous showers and thunderstorms to develop this afternoon and evening. The Storm Prediction Center has issued a level 2/5 risk of Severe Weather this afternoon and evening for parts of Central/Piedmont, NC.

📌WHAT: A trough over the mountains will slowly shift east this afternoon and evening, the combination of high CAPE values up. to 3000 j/kg and 25-35kt wind shear will create showers and thunderstorms this afternoon and evening. The greatest areas for Severe Weather will be in the level 2/5 risk area on image one below.

⚠️ THREATS: A couple of strong to severe storms are likely, with damaging winds and heavy rainfall being the main threats. However, I can't completely rule out an isolated spin-up tornado threat. It is a very low threat, but still enough to warn of it just in case. There is a higher chance for training storms today, which could result in locally heavy rainfall amounts of 2 inches or more. This could lead to flash flooding, especially in urban areas.

⏰ TIMING: 1-10PM, storms will gradually die down as the sun sets. This means the threat of severe weather for coastal/eastern NC will be rather low.

👀 The Bottom LIne: Stay weather aware this afternoon and evening, especially across Central NC; scattered to numerous showers and thunderstorms are possible. I'll keep you posted.

-Ethan