Jeremy Gilchrist
Myself and two chase partners: Kevin Smith and Todd Ferebee of NC State University chased Hurricane Earl by taking a trip to Nags Head, NC on the Outer Banks. We arrived at 8:30pm (9/2) and decided the Comfort Inn on the beach was a good place to take in the action.
Things began to pick up a bit around midnight and then the real intense weather soon took hold. Initially we had sustained winds in the 30-35mph range with gusts between 40 and 50mph. As time went on we were sustained just over 40mph and gusting to 64mph. We measured with my handheld anemometer which is the skywatch impeller so you don't have to line up the exact direction. We measured our peak gust of 88.6mph on the dunes just before 2am (directly exposed to the ocean on the beach). There was some debate as to whether that number is accepted, but surrounding obs such as the nearby Oregon Inlet Marina also saw a peak gust over 80 mph. Thereafter and through the rest of the night we had strong tropical storm conditions as each rainband rotated through with sustained winds in the 50's and 60's with gusts to hurricane force. The action didn't really let up until around 8:30-9am. It certainly lasted longer and was more impressive than I thought it would be. I can't even imagine what a 100mph sustained wind looks like in person.
Here is a video of the action throughout the night into the morning.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKQn4mof_zY
Always best watched in 720p (Even if youtube still compresses it a little on that setting).
Things began to pick up a bit around midnight and then the real intense weather soon took hold. Initially we had sustained winds in the 30-35mph range with gusts between 40 and 50mph. As time went on we were sustained just over 40mph and gusting to 64mph. We measured with my handheld anemometer which is the skywatch impeller so you don't have to line up the exact direction. We measured our peak gust of 88.6mph on the dunes just before 2am (directly exposed to the ocean on the beach). There was some debate as to whether that number is accepted, but surrounding obs such as the nearby Oregon Inlet Marina also saw a peak gust over 80 mph. Thereafter and through the rest of the night we had strong tropical storm conditions as each rainband rotated through with sustained winds in the 50's and 60's with gusts to hurricane force. The action didn't really let up until around 8:30-9am. It certainly lasted longer and was more impressive than I thought it would be. I can't even imagine what a 100mph sustained wind looks like in person.
Here is a video of the action throughout the night into the morning.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKQn4mof_zY
Always best watched in 720p (Even if youtube still compresses it a little on that setting).
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