An Ash Wednesday 

 to Remember 



NOR'EASTER! 



Wind Direction 



Direction of Travel 



The typical nor'easter's counterclockwise winds pound the coast as the storm travels northward. 



By C.R. Edgerton 



Well-known Outer Banker David Stick 

 called it "a horrifying experience." 



Aycock Brown, the self-styled 

 promoter of the state's easternmost barrier 

 islands, labeled it "The Ash Wednesday 

 Storm." 



Meterologists call it "The Great 

 Atlantic Coast Storm of 1962." 



Whatever you name it, the 60-hour 

 northeaster that pounded the Atlantic 

 Coast from March 7 to 9 in 1962 was one 

 of the worst non-hurricane storms to ever 

 bring its fury to the Tar Heel coast. 



Stick, who was in charge of imple- 

 menting Dare County's emergency disaster 

 plan on the North Banks, reports that more 

 than 500 miles of shoreline along the Mid- 

 Atlantic states were affected by the storm. 

 He says total structural damage was 

 estimated at $234 million. About 1,800 



dwellings were destroyed. Thousands 

 more were heavily damaged. 



The Ash Wednesday Storm was what 

 meteorologists refer to as an extratropical 

 cyclone. These storms have many of the 

 same characteristics as a hurricane, but 

 without the central warm air mass and the 

 well-defined eye. 



The primary problems associated with 

 an extratropical cyclone are severe 

 flooding and erosion, both of which were 

 adundant during the Ash Wednesday 

 Storm. The fury and power of this 

 particular storm places it alongside many 

 of the state's worst hurricanes. 



To complicate matters, The Ash 

 Wednesday Storm made landfall when the 

 sun, moon and earth were aligned 

 perfectly for one of the highest tides of the 

 year. 



Some of the footprints left in the sand 

 by the Ash Wednesday Storm were: 



— A 200-foot-wide inlet two miles 

 north of Buxton (later filled in by the U.S. 

 Army Corps of Engineers). 



— Sinking of the Liberian tanker Gem 

 about 100 miles southeast of Cape 

 Hatteras. The ship split in half, and one 

 crewman drowned. 



— Total loss of the protective sand 

 dune line from Kill Devil Hills to the 

 Virginia line. Only the tallest dunes — 

 such as Jockey's Ridge and Penny Hill — 

 and those most inland were spared. 



— Near record high tides of 8.2 feet 

 (plus a storm surge of 3.6 feet) at Hatteras. 



— Sustained winds of 60 mph 

 recorded at Hatteras. 



— Damage to hotels, motels, summer 

 cottages, highways, piers and permanent 

 residences estimated at $12 million. © 



Meterologists call it "The Great Atlantic Coast Storm of 1962. 



COASTVCATCH 9 



