US Weather Bureau Station

A unique part of American history has been preserved and is now open to the public at the US Weather Bureau Station in Hatteras Village. This historic structure, with its Victorian appearance, was built in 1901 and served as an operating weather station from 1902 through 1946. An observer recorded data hourly about temperature, humidity, barometric pressure, wind speed and rainfall.

The federal government began monitoring the weather at this eastern Atlantic outpost in 1874, when the US Army Signal Service, Meteorological Service established an office at the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse keeper's quarters. In 1880 the office moved to the Hatteras Lifesaving Station and to a private residence in 1883.

The US Weather Bureau was established under the Department of Agriculture in 1891 via transfer of the old Meteorological Service. Ten years later the US Weather Bureau Station was built. Downstairs were living quarters for the observer and his family. Rooms included a living room, kitchen, office and bedrooms. Upstairs was a large observation room and office connected to the widow's walk on the roof via a ship's ladder. Outbuildings at the site included storages sheds, a cistern, an outhouse, and a signal tower used to display weather flags.

In 1912, the US Weather Bureau Station received the SOS signal from the doomed ocean liner Titanic. After its decommissioning in 1946 the building, the only station of its kind that remains in its original state, served as the residence for Weather Bureau personnel (who continued to monitor conditions at Hatteras, but from a different headquarters), a marine biology lab, and later housing for US Park Service staff.

Although the building had been vacant for years, its architectural integrity remained intact. In 2005 it was completely renovated. Beautiful polished pine walls now gleam in the historic structure. Many of the original doors remain in place.

In 2007 the US Weather Bureau Station opened as the Hatteras Island Welcome Center operated by the Outer Banks Visitors Bureau to compliment their other facilities  — the Aycock Brown Welcome Center in Kitty Hawk, the Outer Banks Welcome Center on Roanoke Island and the Whalebone Welcome Center at Whalebone Junction. Information, brochures and pamphlets about the Outer Banks' accommodations and attractions are available free of charge.