wind · United States
Cape Hatteras, North Carolina
August–October peak sustained wind
Modelled demonstration series · not observed data
Peak-wind records are noisy by nature — one storm's track decides the year. The signal worth reading is not this bar but the shape of the recent decades: warmer sea surface gives intensifying storms more to work with, and rapid intensification close to shore is the specific behaviour that defeats evacuation timelines.
75 years, modelled
Same reading, two normals
| Normal | Mean | σ | Pct | Return |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1951–1980 | 122 km/h | +0.80σ | 79th | 1 in 4.7 years |
| 1991–2020 | 136 km/h | +0.14σ | 56th | 1 in 2.3 years |
Today would rank 26 of 76 for highest value in the modelled series. Nothing about the reading changes between rows — only the yardstick.
The season here
The Outer Banks sit directly on the western Atlantic hurricane track. Peak wind here is a lottery over which storms turn early and which do not.
Where this series comes from
MODELLED SERIES — not observed. Parameters set from published Cape Hatteras hurricane-season wind climatology. The 75 annual values are synthesised by the seeded generator; peak-wind series are inherently event-driven and this model reproduces that noisiness rather than smoothing it.
Every number on this page comes from a modelled series: 75 annual values synthesised by a seeded generator from published climatological parameters for Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. It shows how anomaly reasoning works. It is not a measurement and must not be cited as one.
How to read σ
σ counts standard deviations from this place's own normal. The sigma guide · return periods.
More wind stations
Open Cape Hatteras on the field →