The buoy and tower take their name from Frying Pan Shoals, a treacherous region of shallow water extending southeastward from Bald Head Island for 30 or more miles from shore. The buoy is located approximately 10 miles west-southwest of Frying Pan Tower, formerly a Coast Guard light station which was equipped with a NOAA weather station designated FPSN7.
This is typically 30-50 miles from the western wall of the Gulf Stream current, however warm eddies can occasionally break off the main flow of the Gulf Stream producing water temperatures in the 70s in mid-winter. The buoy floats in 77 feet of water at a position 31 miles southeast of Bald Head Island, NC, or about 68 miles east of Myrtle Beach, SC. The Frying Pan Shoals Buoy is a NOAA weather buoy moored in the Atlantic Ocean southeast of Cape Fear, NC.
Water temperature climatology information
