Winter on the Island

Visitors to Ocracoke often ask what it is like to live on Ocracoke in the off-season. Of course, it is much quieter than in the summer, so many of us have more time to enjoy family, friends, and neighbors. Winter can be an opportunity to try new recipes, pursue a favorite hobby or pastime, learn a new skill, catch up on reading, do some traveling, make needed repairs, or just relax for a time.

Snow & Ice, 2011

Summer folks also want to know about the weather in the winter. I always tell visitors that typical temperatures range from 40° to 60° although I have known the low to be in the single digits (see statistic for 1985, below). It was in the low 30s over the weekend; and see photo above re. ice & snow in 2011. I have known the high to be in the high 70s (not many days ago we had temps in the mid-70s). I recently discovered these statistics from www.intellicast.com:

•  Average Ocracoke temperatures (December - March)
•  low....40° (January)
•  high...60° (March)
•  Low temperature (January, 1985)...6°
•  High temperature (March, 1907)...82° 

Our current Ocracoke Newsletter is a 1938 article about Capt. Gary Bragg, waterfowl hunting, and wooden decoy carving. You can read it here: http://www.villagecraftsmen.com/news112116.htm.