A passing cold front brought big waves and crowds of surfers on Thursday morning, with dozens of vehicles parked along N.C. Highway 12 in northern Buxton.
Roughly 60% of the surfers who flocked to the shoreline were local residents, per several reports, but surfers arrived for the head high swell from all along the East Coast, which included southern North Carolina, Virginia, and New Jersey
Auggie Gregory and a couple of friends from Wilmington, N.C., left home at 2:45 a.m. to head to Hatteras Island, a roughly 6-hour drive. “As soon as we got here this morning, we got out of the car and got in the ocean,” he said. “We knew it was going to be good today.”
Waves were reportedly at least 5-8 ft. high throughout Thursday morning, with west winds of 15-20 mph and air temperatures in the high 50s.
Winds are expected to diminish later in the day, (with wave heights dropping to 2-3 ft. overnight), but for now, locals and visitors are taking advantage of a fun January beach day.
