THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 15, 1996 TAG: 9609150054
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY MASON PETERS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BUXTON LENGTH: 74 lines
When Hurricane Fran swept into southern beaches and roared across North Carolina, it seemed perfectly natural to see 60-year-old Wally Demaurice galloping back to work, stomping and snorting like an old-time fire horse.
For nearly 15 years, Demaurice was the head meteorologist at the U.S. Weather Station at Buxton, a concrete blockhouse not far from the Cape Hatteras lighthouse.
But as part of a $4.4 billion upgrading of the National Weather Service, the Buxton station was closed last year and much of the equipment was moved to a new forecasting center at Newport, a few miles northwest of Morehead City.
Newport is now the source of Outer Banks weather information.
But Demaurice stayed behind as ``sort of a one-man technical staff at the Buxton facility,'' as he put it. ``I hope I can stay on at least until 1999.''
When the Weather Service announced the closing of the station on Hatteras Island, Washington policy-makers diplomatically decided not to move Demaurice from his old post in the Buxton blockhouse.
Who else could soothe Outer Banks residents who were threatening political retaliation over the loss of their Buxton weather station?
So Demaurice stayed on, transmitting on-the-spot weather reports and finding new ways to be alone and useful. On Cape Hatteras, weather knowledge can mean life or death.
And when Fran hit the coast near Wilmington, officials called to say there was trouble at the new Newport station and could Demaurice help out from Buxton?
``They told me to get ready to relay emergency radio traffic from Buxton - they were having communications problems of their own in Newport,'' Demaurice said.
He checked out his old emergency generator and soon had Buxton's remaining radios ready for duty if needed.
Friends said later that the veteran of a multitude of hurricanes was disappointed that he was never needed because Newport got its problems sorted out before it was necessary to ask Buxton for help.
Long before Washington officials shut down Buxton and shipped 11 forecasters to Newport and elsewhere, Demaurice had been welcomed into the clannish culture of Hatteras Island.
He has many friends in Dare County, and he and his wife have shared the worst that weather can throw at the Outer Banks.
Demaurice was one of the few experts who could convince his neighbors that the weather reports for the Outer Banks would be better than ever once Newport's new radars and other equipment came on line.
Then, when word got around that Demaurice would remain in Buxton, it wasn't long before volunteers from Dare County emergency services offered their services if he was ever shorthanded.
And, thanks to amateur radio operators and police and fire agencies, Demaurice has nearly as much equipment in the old Buxton station as he had originally.
When a buried fuel tank for the main emergency generator at Buxton was dug up recently, before it caused leakage trouble, Dare officials quietly arranged to have the tank replaced.
Demaurice is an amateur radio operator as well as a professional communicator, and Buxton and Newport are closely linked with an amateur emergency radio network that feeds weather information to the government.
Equipment at Buxton now includes satellite receivers that link Demaurice to the the latest weather scans from 22,000 miles up.
When storms threaten the Outer Banks, Dare County Sheriff Bert Austin keeps his deputies in radio-communication with Demaurice in his Buxton bunker.
As a result, visitors to the Outer Banks sometimes marvel at the quick access that Hatteras Islanders have to weather information.
And when Demaurice tells his neighbors the forecasts are better than ever, they have good reason to believe it. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by DREW C. WILSON, The Virginian-Pilot
Wally Demaurice is the last weatherman to serve at the Buxton office
of the National Weather Service. The station has been replaced by a
new office in Newport. by CNB