Cape Lookout National Seashore preserves a 56-mile (90-km) long section of the Southern

Outer Banks The Outer Banks (frequently abbreviated OBX) are a string of barrier islands and spits off the coast of North Carolina and southeastern Virginia, on the east coast of the United States. They line most of the North Carolina coastline, separatin ...

, or

Crystal Coast In North Carolina, the Crystal Coast is an 85-mile stretch of coastline that extends from the Cape Lookout National Seashore, which includes 56 miles of protected beaches, southwestward to the New River (eastern North Carolina), New River. The Cr ...

, of

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

, United States, running from Ocracoke Inlet on the northeast to Beaufort Inlet on the southwest. Three undeveloped barrier islands make up the seashore - North and South

Core Banks The Core Banks are barrier islands in North Carolina, part of the Cape Lookout National Seashore. Named after the Coree tribe, they extend from Ocracoke Inlet to Cape Lookout, and consist of two low-relief narrow islands, North Core Banks a ...

and Shackleford Banks. The seashore includes two historic villages on Core Banks, Shackleford's wild horses, and the Cape Lookout Lighthouse, which has a black-and-white diamond pattern. A visitor center for the seashore is located on

Harkers Island Harkers Island is a census-designated place (CDP) in Carteret County, North Carolina, United States. The population of Harkers Island was 1,207 at the 2010 census. Harkers Island is unincorporated and receives most public services, including la ...

. The National Park Service, as part of their Centennial Initiative celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2016, is planning to rehabilitate the Lighthouse and restore the Cape Lookout and Portsmouth Village Historic Districts.

History

The National Seashore was authorized on March 10, 1966. It was named a North Carolina Natural Heritage Area on May 23, 1986. The seashore was designated the Carolinian-South Atlantic Biosphere Reserve on June 16, 1986. Near noon on September 9, 2007, Tropical Storm Gabrielle made landfall at this exact point with winds of . Damage was light but flooding and beach erosion affected this lookout. On August 27, 2011,

Hurricane Irene Hurricane Irene was a large and destructive tropical cyclone which affected much of the Caribbean and East Coast of the United States during late August 2011. The ninth tropical cyclone naming, named storm, first hurricane, and first major ...

made landfall near Cape Lookout as a Category 1 storm with 85 mph sustained winds. Hurricane Arthur also made landfall near Cape Lookout as a Category 2 storm with 100 mph sustained winds.

Laws

The Corolla Wild Horses Protection Act (H.R. 126;113th Congress), if passed, would take wild horses from herds on the Cape Lookout National Seashore and introduced them to the herds in the Currituck National Wildlife Refuge in order to ensure

genetic viability Genetic viability is the ability of the genes present to allow a cell, organism or population to survive and reproduce. The term is generally used to mean the chance or ability of a population to avoid the problems of inbreeding. Less commonly gen ...

Climate

According to the

Trewartha climate classification The Trewartha climate classification (TCC), or the Köppen–Trewartha climate classification (KTC), is a climate classification system first published by American geographer Glenn Thomas Trewartha in 1966. It is a modified version of the Köp ...

system, Cape Lookout National Seashore, North Carolina has a

humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a subtropical -temperate climate type, characterized by long and hot summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between ...

with hot and humid summers, cool winters and year-around precipitation (''Cfak''). Cfak climates are characterized by all months having an average mean temperature > 32.0 °F (> 0.0 °C), at least eight months with an average mean temperature ≥ 50.0 °F (≥ 10.0 °C), at least one month with an average mean temperature ≥ 71.6 °F (≥ 22.0 °C) and no significant precipitation difference between seasons. During the summer months in Cape Lookout National Seashore, a cooling afternoon

sea breeze A sea breeze or onshore breeze is a wind that blows in the afternoon from a large body of water toward or onto a landmass. By contrast, a land breeze or offshore breeze is a wind that blows in the night from a landmass toward or onto a large ...

is present on most days, but episodes of extreme heat and humidity can occur with

heat index The heat index (HI) is an index that combines air temperature and relative humidity, in shade (shadow), shaded areas, to posit a human-perceived equivalent temperature, as how hot it would feel if the humidity were some other value in the Shade (s ...

values ≥ 100 °F (≥ 38 °C). Cape Lookout National Seashore is prone to hurricane strikes, particularly during the

Atlantic hurricane season The Atlantic hurricane season is the period in a year, from June 1 through November 30, when Tropical cyclone, tropical or subtropical cyclones are most likely to form in the North Atlantic Ocean. These dates, adopted by convention ...

which extends from June 1 through November 30, sharply peaking from late August through September. During the winter months, episodes of cold and wind can occur with

wind chill Wind chill (popularly wind chill factor) is the sensation of cold produced by the wind for a given ambient air temperature on exposed skin as the air motion accelerates the rate of heat transfer from the body to the surrounding atmosphere. Its va ...

values < 10 °F (< -12 °C). The plant hardiness zone at Core Sound in Cape Lookout National Seashore is 8b with an average annual extreme minimum air temperature of 16.6 °F (-8.6 °C). The average seasonal (Dec-Mar) snowfall total is < 2 inches (< 5 cm), and the average annual peak in

nor'easter A nor'easter (also northeaster; see below) is a large-scale extratropical cyclone in the western North Atlantic Ocean. The name derives from the direction of the winds that blow from the northeast. Typically, such storms originate as a low ...

activity is in February.

Ecology

According to the A. W. Kuchler U.S. potential natural vegetation types, Cape Lookout National Seashore, North Carolina would have a dominant vegetation type of

Live oak Live oak or evergreen oak is any of a number of oaks in several different sections of the genus ''Quercus'' that share the characteristic of evergreen foliage. These oaks are generally not more closely related to each other than they are to o ...

/Sea Oats Uniola paniculata (''90'') with a dominant vegetation form of

Coastal A coast (coastline, shoreline, seashore) is the land next to the sea or the line that forms the boundary between the land and the ocean or a lake. Coasts are influenced by the topography of the surrounding landscape and by aquatic erosion, su ...

Prairie Prairies are ecosystems considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and a composition of grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the ...

(''20'').

Wildlife

File:Core Banks - Tern - 01.JPG,

Common tern The common tern (''Sterna hirundo'') is a seabird in the family Laridae. This bird has a circumpolar distribution, its four subspecies breeding in Temperateness, temperate and subarctic regions of Europe, Asia and North America. It is stron ...

''Sterna hirundo'' driving intruders away from the nest site File:Core Banks - Black Skimmer nesting site - 3.JPG,

Black skimmer The black skimmer (''Rynchops niger'') is a tern-like seabird, one of three similar bird species in the Rynchops, skimmer genus ''Rynchops'' in the gull family Laridae. It breeds in North America, North and South America. Northern populations bir ...

''Rynchops niger'' nesting site near Cape Lookout Point at southern tip of

File:Core_Banks_-_American_Oystercatcher_-_1.JPG, American oystercatcher ''Haematopus palliatus'' File:Core Banks - Pelican.JPG, Brown pelican ''Pelecanus occidentalis'' File:Core Banks - Gull - 03.JPG,

Laughing gull The laughing seagull (''Leucophaeus atricilla'') is a medium-sized gull of North America, North and South America. Named for its laugh-like call, it is an opportunistic omnivore and scavenger. It breeds in large colonies mostly along the Atlantic ...

''Leucophaeus atricilla'' File:Core Banks - Egret - 2.JPG,

Great egret The great egret (''Ardea alba''), also known as the common egret, large egret, great white egret, or great white heron, is a large, widely distributed egret. The four subspecies are found in Asia, Africa, the Americas, and southern Europe. R ...

''Ardea alba'' File:Core Banks - Shark.JPG, Small shark File:Core Banks - Whelk - 1.JPG, Live lightning whelk ''Sinistrofulgur perversum'' File:Core Banks - Hermit Crab - 2.JPG, Hermit crab, possibly flat-clawed hermit crab ''Pagurus pollicaris'', in a shell of knobbed whelk ''Busycon carica'' File:Core Banks - Moon Snail.JPG, Shark eye moon snail '' Neverita duplicata'' in a shallow water on a sand bar File:Core Banks - Fiddler Crab.JPG, Fiddler crab File:Core Banks - Green Anole - 1.JPG,

Carolina anole ''Anolis carolinensis'' or green anole () (among other names below) is a tree-dwelling species of anole lizard native to the southeastern United States and introduced to islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific and Caribbean Sea, Caribbean. A small ...

''Anolis carolinensis'' File:Branded Shackleford Pony.jpg, Banker horse on Shackleford Banks

Bibliography

* ''The National Parks: Index 2001–2003''. Washington: U.S. Department of the Interior. *

Notes

External links

* Official NPS website
Cape Lookout National Seashore

Cape Lookout Studies Program

An entry
by the

International Dark-Sky Association DarkSky International, formerly the International Dark-Sky Association (IDA), is a United States–based nonprofit organization incorporated in 1988 by founders David Crawford, a professional astronomer, and Tim Hunter, a physician and amateu ...

{{Authority control Biosphere reserves of the United States Protected areas of Carteret County, North Carolina National seashores of the United States Outer Banks Protected areas established in 1966 National Park Service areas in North Carolina 1966 establishments in North Carolina