Relentless Nor’easter Whips Outer Banks Surf Into a Frenzy Near Nags Head Pier

Churning whitewater stretched far out to sea off North Carolina’s Outer Banks on Monday morning, October 19, as a slow-moving nor’easter kept pounding the coast for a third straight day.

Local realtor Jody filmed the scene from the beach just north of Nags Head Pier. The clip opens looking down the shoreline toward the pier, which reaches out into the rough water, before panning across a turbulent ocean covered in foam and breaking waves. A haze of sea spray hangs over the surf, a gull skims low over sand littered with reeds and debris washed up by the storm, and a few people can be seen walking near the waterline in the distance. The roar of the wind drowns out almost everything else. “Your Monday look at the Outer Banks of NC as the wind keeps blowing and the ocean rages just north of Nags Head Pier,” the post read.

The National Weather Service had a high surf advisory in effect for the northern Outer Banks, from Duck to Nags Head, until Thursday morning, forecasting breakers of 9 to 12 feet, north winds of around 30 mph and a high rip current risk. Coastal gusts were expected to reach 45 to 50 mph on Monday and Monday night. A gust of 62 mph was measured at Jennette’s Pier, and a buoy offshore recorded a peak wave of 19.4 feet. “This is still a long duration event and our predicted water levels along the coast are equal to or higher at (Monday)’s high tide and through Thursday than what we have experienced thus far,” said Erik Heden, a meteorologist with the weather service.

The worst impacts were further south. Dare County declared a state of emergency and kept a mandatory evacuation order in place for visitors on Hatteras Island, warning that repeated wave action had caused substantial beach erosion and that more ocean overwash on Highway 12 could cut off access with little warning. Overwash had already flooded side streets from Mirlo Beach through Rodanthe and near the Pea Island Visitor Center, where part of the highway washed out during a nor’easter in September. State transportation crews were clearing sand from the road, and ferry routes to and from Ocracoke were closed.

Forecasters said the waves would peak on Monday and Monday night and stay high through Wednesday, with conditions only slowly improving from Thursday, October 22.