The Wright Brothers National Memorial in Kill Devil Hills is seen covered in snow the morning of Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. (Photo by Corinne Saunders)
By Corinne Saunders
The Outer Banks has seen its first significant snowfall in seven years, almost to the day.
Snow began falling in the area around 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 21, and kept up overnight.
Wednesday morning brought reports of up to eight inches of snow in places, according to a Dare County Sheriff’s Office public service announcement written by Dare County Emergency Management Director Drew Pearson and distributed around 9 a.m.
“A few minor accidents” took place in Dare County overnight, Pearson wrote. “Key message is to stay off the roads until conditions improve.”
From Tuesday night through Wednesday morning, Kill Devil Hills received 9 inches of snow, Rodanthe received 8 inches, Ocracoke Village received 8.3 inches, Southern Shores received 7 inches, Duck received 6.5 inches and Buxton and Manns Harbor each received 5.8 inches, according to the U.S. National Weather Service at Newport/Morehead City.
Snow amounts across Currituck County varied from 4-7.5 inches, according to the U.S. National Weather Service at Wakefield, Virginia.
The last major snow event was Jan. 17-18, 2018, when the northern beaches and Roanoke Island received 8-10 inches of snow, according to the U.S. National Weather Service at Newport/Morehead City.
Earlier that month, portions of the region including Roanoke Island experienced the locally nicknamed “snowicane” of Jan. 4, 2018, featuring snow driven by hurricane-force winds.
More recently, Colington Island received several inches of snow three years ago to the day, on Jan. 22, 2022, but that snowfall missed most of the rest of the Outer Banks. Corolla residents also reported several inches of snow that day.
The Kitty Hawk Police Department posted around 7:20 a.m. Wednesday that a small section of N.C. Highway 12 (North Virginia Dare Trail) east of the Ocean Boulevard and U.S. Highway 158 intersection was closed because “a snow drift has already claimed two vehicles this morning.”
An update the department shared at 8:34 a.m. said that snowplows cleared the area and the roadway was open.
Government offices around the area were closed on Wednesday, including town and county offices, as well as Dare County Schools, Currituck County Schools, Hyde County Schools and National Park Service locations.
The Dare and Currituck school systems announced closures for Thursday, Jan. 23, early Wednesday afternoon. Hyde County Schools announced its Thursday closure on Wednesday evening. Area town and county offices will again be closed Thursday.
The National Park Service in a 6 p.m. press release Wednesday announced the continued closures of its visitor facilities at Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Fort Raleigh National Historic Site and Wright Brothers National Memorial on Thursday.
“Fort Raleigh’s shoreline erosion public meeting, originally scheduled for Jan. 23, is postponed—a new date will be announced in the coming days,” the release said.
All off-road vehicle (ORV) ramps at Cape Hatteras National Seashore were closed Wednesday morning, “due to difficult beach driving conditions,” the park service release said.
Its decision on reopening the ramps will be made Thursday morning and communicated by ORV text alert and the Seashore’s Facebook page. To sign up for text alerts, text CAHAORV to 333111.
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This story was updated around 2:20 p.m. to include the school closures announced for tomorrow and prior snow in Corolla. It was updated again at 7 p.m. to include the newly released snowfall totals from around the region and the additional announced closures.