Hurricane Watch, Waves, Volleyball

A Hurricane Watch is in effect for the Carolina coast today as Ophelia approaches.

But checking the streaming webcam at Wrightsville Beach, NC (near Wilmington, one of the best beach weather cams on the Net), I see one family sitting on the beach and another playing volleyball, despite the dark skies and approaching showers:

You can check out other beach cams on the WeatherMatrix WeatherCams site.

Surfchex.com says the waves today in the Wrightsville Beach area are "Head high to several feet overhead. Solid groundswell coming in. N-NE wind keeping it semi-choppy." That sounds like surfer-speak for 6-9 foot waves.

The National Weather Service at Wilmington is predicting waves up to 17 feet just offshore and 12 feet onshore on Monday.

Buoy 41002, way offshore and the closest to Ophelia right now, is showing waves of 20 feet already and wind gusts to 45 knots.