Tag Archives: Hurricane

Cristobal Lights Up the NC Surf Scene

cristobal_bipie_23All my research was complete and the call was made for the morning: Emerald Isle was the spot, fingers crossed. Hurricane Cristobal was sitting off the coast, pumping in swell. I used a combination of MagicSeaWeed and SwellInfo to help me pinpoint a surf location—be sure to check out my post Surfing the open data wave that highlights how open data is used by surf forecasting tools. As a surfer stuck inland, if I’m getting in the car to drive two plus hours, I want to maximize my time. Continue reading

Crowdsourced reports save emergency services overwhelmed by Hurricane Sandy

The 9-1-1 system is overwhelmed with real emergencies during weather events like Hurricane Sandy, so if you want to report a downed tree, power outage, or clogged storm drain, you need another way to do so—SeeClickFix provides that forum.

Of all the media surrounding Hurricane Sandy, aka Frankenstorm, one email caught my attention. The subject was: “Use SeeClickFix to Help Your Community During Hurricane Sandy.” What a great idea. The whole point of SeeClickFix is to report non-emergency issues to local authorities in a transparent forum so that other citizens can view the reported issues. Continue reading

September Surf Sessions on the Outer Banks

A week of surf on the Outer Banks will do wonders for your soul. I headed out to Kill Devil Hills, NC on Tuesday, September 4, leaving Raleigh, NC after dinner and arriving at the beach just before midnight. The swell forecast from Hurricane Leslie was looking very promising. And the wind (direction) looked like it was going to cooperate over the next few days.

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Katia Delivers Surf to the Outer Banks

Surf from Hurricane Katia

Surf from Hurricane Katia

I decided to work remote from the Outer Banks during Labor Day week. I got lucky with a plethora of surf. I was hoping for it, but didn’t expect the surf to be this good. On Friday, September 9th, Katia delivered. In the morning, it was head to 3-foot overhead. (6-9 foot surf.) By the afternoon, the swell had dwindled, but it was still 6-8 foot surf.

MB, Zander, and I headed to the Outer Banks on Sunday (9/4), after the NC State season opener against Liberty. The football game was a blast and the Wolfpack won. We arrived at the beach around 2pm. All of our friends were hanging out on the beach and there were a few waves out there. I surfed for about an hour. Continue reading

Surfing Hurricane Irene

Hurricane flags fly in Wrightsville Beach

Hurricane flags fly in Wrightsville Beach

The Jetta was packed last night with two surfboards, my surf gear, and other essentials. I was ready for an early morning trip to Wilmington to surf. The alarm went off  around 5am and after I woke up, headed East.

Hurricane Irene is looming off the East coast and the surf window wasn’t very big. I didn’t think the surf would last much past noon today–and I was right. I arrived at Wrightsville Beach just after 7:30am. I took some pictures and got in the water. Continue reading

From Boone to the Beach

I got back to Raleigh around 10:00 pm last night, unpacked the car, then repacked with all my surf gear. I considered driving on through the night, but was tired from the spending the day at Boone DrupalCamp. I caught up with MB and she showed me all the tailgating gear she got for the upcoming NC State football season (which kicks off next weekend).

I set my alarm for 5:30 am, but woke up at 5. I was actually Continue reading