Sitting behind Ocracoke a few Octobers ago I witnessed a fast moving weather front sweep in from the NW across the banks and grind to a stop over Frying Pan Shoals. By dawn it had churned up into a massive gale with cumulus clouds reaching thousands of feet into the atmosphere. It built and propagated into a nor'easter, extending itself northward over a number of days. Winds went to +35knots and stayed there for days. By the time the thing died away it had caused damage the whole way to New England. There was talk about riding the thing south "as it died", which was just crazy, because it had a life of it's own.