It is 75F this morning as 9:00 AM approaches.  That is definitely a good start to the day. It is also fifteen degrees warmer than it was a year ago at the same time of day.

We are headed to 81F this after with a 70% chance of precipitation later today.  I am not sure that I would bet a lot on the weather after yesterday.

At around 11:00 AM I went out to get some ice from the ice machine on Highway 58.  Before I stopped for ice, I dropped by Coastal Marine to pick a replacement for the Gotcha that I had lost the previous day.  As I got out of the car I noticed some dark clouds building to the south and east of us.

After we got home, I checked the radar and sure enough there was a surprise, narrow band of precipitation headed right for Bogue Inlet and then the White Oak.

Brian, one of my fishing buddies, and I had planned to leave at 12:30 PM for two or three hours of chasing red drum.  My boat was ready to go. I had already put the GPS on it and put in the drainage plug.

The ice I had bought was just for topping up the coolers which still had ice from the previous day.  My first thought was that we would just fish in the White Oak just outside of Bluewater Cove where we could be in shelter in less than five minutes.  I went in the garage to rig a road, and when I went out to take it to the boat, I noticed Brian walking down the driveway in the rain.

As we went inside to check the computer again, the rain really started coming down so I grapped my gear bad and the GPS off the boat and pulled the plug so the rainwater would drain.

It did not take us long to determine waiting out the rain would put us past the time Brian needed to at home so we postponed our fishing trip until next week.

If I had not eaten my shrimp as shrimp and grits last night, I might be tempted to go out for a couple of hours this morning since the local radar looks clean and the sky is still blue.  However, this afternoon might be a totally different story.