Outer Banks: 8.23.11 - Peaceful in Kitty Hawk

Such a great summer day. August is winding down, but we still have plenty of great OBX summer days ahead. September and October are amazing on the Outer Banks – warm air, warm water, empty beaches, great fishing, fun surf…welcome to the OBX “shoulder season.”

Today is picture perfect. Sun, 80′s, light onshore breeze out of the east.  No surf, but the fish are biting.

Despite the perfect day today, the question on everyone’s mind is: what will Hurricane Irene do? Is this just the calm before the storm?

It is still far too early to know if/when the Outer Banks will be affected by Hurricane Irene. Hurricanes tend to be pretty erratic and unpredictable. It seems like we are still about four or five days from the potential impact from the storm, so there is plenty of time for the beast to change it’s course significantly.

At this point, the forecasts do indicate the OBX could see some impact, but based on the six computer models, only one projects a direct hit. So there is still a lot of hope for limited impact.

Let’s keep our fingers crossed for some much needed rain and some fun waves, but hopefully Mother Nature will keep the storm out to sea.

Here are the projected Hurricane Irene tracks:

Outer Banks: Hurricane Irene Projected Path - 8.23.11

Here’s the Outer Banks surf forecast based on the impact from Hurricane Irene:

Outer Banks Surf Forecast - Hurricane Irene - 8.23.11