Satellite shows ocean sparked as nor’easter formed off North Carolina’s Outer Banks

The beginnings of the nor’easter that sucked an Outer Banks home into the ocean was seen by satellite and it reveals the churning Atlantic Ocean was literally sparking.

Recorded from about 22,236 miles above Earth, a video clip of the storm shows a cluster of fluorescent sparks exploded off North Carolina’s Outer Banks, then slowly moved north along the coast.

The sparks were countless lighting strikes, as detected by a Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) on the GOES-East Satellite, NASA reports. The mapper uses “near-infrared wavelengths” to detect and record lightning over the Americas, officials said.

NASA shared the video on social media, after compressing six hours of storm development to 12 seconds.

Forecasters predicted the nor’easter would bring damaging winds, breaking waves of 8 to 12 feet and coastal flooding to the Outer Banks.

On Monday, March 13, the waves contributed to an 1,100-square-foot home in Rodanthe falling into the ocean, where it was broken apart in heavy surf. The resulting debris trail spread 21 miles across beaches inside Cape Hatteras National Seashore, the National Park Service reports.

The North Carolina Department of Transportation reports the storm also breached dunes near the Pea Island Visitor Center, impacting highway travel.

This story was originally published March 15, 2023 at 5:36 AM with the headline "Satellite shows ocean sparked as nor’easter formed off North Carolina’s Outer Banks."