If you are currently in the Outer Banks and the wind is running SW, you are probably seeing and smelling a great deal of smoke.  The smoke you see is coming from the Alligator River Wildlife Refuge and is causing quite a lot of grief for those who are sensitive to smoke. On May 4 lightening struck the refuge, resulting in a large fire.  Currently this fire has spread across 70 square miles with smoke reaching as far as Manteo, Nags Head, Kill Devil Hills, Kitty Hawk and Southern Shores. This video was taken on June 10, 2011 coming off of the Wright Memorial Bridge towards the Outer Banks.  At that time the smoke was overwhelming, causing both visibility and ...

Most of the locals in our neighborhood stayed during Hurricane Earl, for better or for worse.  To keep themselves occupied they walked to the main road and watched the visitors trying to evacuate as instructed.  From what I understand, it took hours to get only a few sections down.  They also watched the waves from the stairway, amazed at the 8 to 10 foot heights. My neighbor stayed up until about 1 a.m. before she turned the lights off and went to bed.  She said the rain sounded like someone was drilling the sides of the walls while the rain blew hard for hours.  Although she wasn’t afraid, she was very anxious for it all to end. This morning we went ...