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Hi everyone! We just spent the weekend at Outer Banks and loved it but we weren't able to do much swimming in the ocean-the water was freezing cold, I think the first day it was 66. Is this normal for the Outer Banks in July? I was told the water temps can fluctuate a lot based on wind direction. We usually go down to Kure Beach area and the water is always warm in the summer months. My kids didn't even want to go in it, it was skin-numbing cold. We want to take a longer vacation there next summer but we are just not sure if the water being so cold was just a fluke or if it varies wildly from week to week and you never know what you are going to get? Thanks so much for all of your help!
It's back up to 76 degrees today,with an east wind.Cooler temps are normal north of Buxton,whenever we experience west winds.It's known as an upwelling effect,where the warm water is pushed offshore and replaced by cooler water.Temps in the upper 50's are normal whenever we have a hard west wind,but can skyrocket back up to the low 80's in a matter of hours.Hope this helps........
obxfisherman-Thanks a lot for your reply that does help actually. We were just there for a few days and we wondered if when we left the water temp would rise back up! I guess if we were there a whole week we would proabably fare better. And I could check out the wind direction before we head down for a weekend again also.
Were you by chance in the Nags Head area? The Gulf Stream gets pushed off the coast by Hatteras Island. There is a northern cold steam (I can't recall its name) that comes on the north side of the Outer Banks.
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