Hurricane Harbor

A writer and a tropical muse. A funky Lubavitcher who enjoys watching the weather, hurricanes, listening to music while enjoying life with a sense of humor and trying to make sense of it all!

Wednesday, February 12, 2025

Models. What Do The Models Say Regarding the Rest of Winter? And...............Come Spring?? Rainy Day Writing Exercise, Thanks For Reading!

 


The Euro with icy promises for next week.

Models.

What does that word mean to you?

When I was little I'd help my cousin do his models as we build Mustangs and Ford Pick Up Trucks! He always got to choose the colors as they were "his" models. Raised more like a brother than a cousin. Good memories....

When I was older I stared at the models in Vogue and numerous Teen magazines that taught me what to wear, how to do my make up and how to hold my body. Full disclosure, my mother put me in a modeling class once. I had lots of classes growing up as my mother loved to put me in classes. Ballet, Baton Twirling, Drama and Modeling. I could walk across the room and do a turn while carrying a book on my head and without it falling off my head! Very important to keep it level!! Thank you Mama!

Then one day......the weather people began talking on this new thing called "the model" and nothing was ever the same. Children screamed out to their mother's suddenly, "Mommy! Mommy! The models say we are going to get the hurricane!!" and Mommy came running to stare and hear what Bryan Norcross said as she only really believed Bryan!

Then there was a littany of models, a parade of models with alphabetical initials that danced across the screens on TV and online and still everyone talks about the models today be it Hurricane season or Winter. And, models always promise you something like a politician at the State Fair while distributing hot dogs to the crowd standing around. And, amazingly we get a new model run every so many hours. Alas no hot dogs, no beers and no batons doing figure 8s in a blur of perpetual motion by a cute girl wearing boots and purple velvet outfits that look a whole lot like swim wear but with a pink satin bow with rhinestones on our ass while we manage to toss a spinning baton into the air and catching it just right while marching. Long run on sentence, but I'm having fun and tossing words here around the way I can toss a baton in the air and catch it behind my back! Still..........it's like riding a bike, it all comes back to you!

Excuse me if I think the weather models come up way short and baton twirling is more precise. 


Old but you get the idea...........
.....good thing the GFS doesn't try that!!!

A model promises you that you will look fashionable. 
They teach us how to sashay across the stage....
...in modeling classes.


Love that dress........


You think I digress but I do not.

The point is...........models are just a visual crapshoot of what or may not happen down the road and used my many who are not good at actually progressing.... the weather today and moving it way down the road with the most probable solution leaving the door open for being wrong. Models are a suggestion and they change their minds often until the storm forms and is on the move and by that time we pretty much know where it'll go. But it's "fun" to look at models. Well, in the same way that many play Fantasy Football.  And, seriously everyone, including me, has to peek at the GFS way down the road promising us snow or a Category 5 Hurricane fifteen days away!



GFS for the same day.
The Snow Man Cometh!!

It's in the upper 30s here in Raleigh, on a gray day when the rain falling almost looks like grey snow falling in phantom style down onto the ground. Slick rooftops are silver, shiny and slick. There's no wind, the rain just keeps falling steadily, almost endlessly but it will end eventually. And, there's now the promise of snow falling silently, beautifully way down the line. Only time will tell.


Nope, not going to do a snow dance.
Just waiting, watching.
Peeking at the models.

As for fashion....
..I love Dolce & Gabbana.

Their forecast for Spring/Summer 2025?
Ummmmmmnnn a li'l bit of everything.
Black bikini tops with satin skirts and a fur.
Guess we should be ready for ANY weather ....


Hey...more fun to look at than the Groundhog!!


Enjoy............
Remember it's as reliable as the Groundhog at least!

:)

Thank you for reading along..........
.......as I type without much thought.
Just having fun.......
Truth!!
When I start typing.........
.... I don't even know what's gonna come out!


It's February.
Hurricane Season is far, far away!

Sweet Tropical Dreams........
...in the depth of winter.

BobbiStorm
@bobbistorm on X
X mostly weather!
Insta whatever........


And, I love Willie!
Had a li'l cowgirl outfit and boots.
Always gotta have boots.
Boots and a baton ;)























Monday, February 10, 2025

The Morning After Super Bowl Sunday.... Winter Being Winter Again. Redbuds in Bloom Early in Raleigh. Commerical Conversations. New Champions as the Eagles Beat the Chiefs.

 


Thought on the Super Bowl first, then some thoughts on Weather.

Full disclosure I was rooting for the Eagles! I've never been the biggest KC fan, though I have a lot of respect for them. This probably goes back to being a Miami Dolphin fan as that was always a problematic game for us and often the worst time to lose. Either way, as I live in Carolina and the Panthers have not been producing wins and the Dolphins are uneven and in trouble I have watched many teams this season and the Eagles was one of them. When they are hot they are hot and last night they were hot and Kansas City was not. 

I've watched the Baltimore Ravens often this year and enjoyed watching them, but they often self destruct at the worst time, so close and yet so far still to go. Maybe next year they can pull it totally together?

My father always said "defense wins games" which was a boring sounding statement to a young girl who enjoyed high scoring offensive games. My father was right. Special Teams showing up was the icing on the cake! And, their offense had bursts of inspiration and excitement. It just wasn't KC's night.  I saw that early on as they did not show the intensity on the field they often do. I watch football the way I watch hurricanes, you can literally see the energy on the field and if and when the energy changes sides. Maybe KC over estimated their ability to win? Maybe it was Philadelphia's hour? But for someone who was rooting for them, it was a great game to watch. 

Nothing is ever a sure thing.

That brings us back to weather. It's snowing in places to the North and as always it seems to stay North of the Carolina line. Even when the GFS promises (rolling eyes) and other models kick in with promises I can almost promise you we aren't going to get snow and it'll stay North of the State Line!


Old school favorite radar.


Except for the fascinating fog....
...All the weather is up in the Mid Atlantic.
While NYC and Central Park got snow....


Driving home from Sprouts last night I saw a blur of purple out of the edge of my eye as I was enjoying the scenery near the golf course near my house and literally screamed "Stop, go back! Was that a tree in bloom??" as my husband was driving while I was trying to get a good pictures of the lake barely visible in the Winter; the sky and the golf course on a sunny, beautiful winter day was incredible. But, seriously what the ????? and he made a U Turn, went back and lo and behold the Redbud Trees were in bloom way too early! It was 80 degrees the other day after a way too warm week in what is basically a fake fall as the temperatures this week flirt with freezing at night, most nights and yet there it was the tree was full of purple blossoms. If it snows again, and it could even just a little that could cause problems as the weight of the flowers on the trees weigh down the tree and more so if we get ice. We could, but I wouldn't bet the farm on it anymore than I'd have bet the farm on the Chiefs to beat the Eagles just because they were the champions as.............on any given Sunday any team can win and in any given February we could get a winter Storm .............even if the beautiful Redbuds are in bloom a month early!

Sweet whatever dreams you want............

BobbiStorm
@bobbistorm on X
X mostly weather
Insta whatever

Good commercials last night, though I'm too much of a football fan to get that excited over all the other drama but the one below has this song stuck in my head and I'm guessing others have it stuck in their head too this morning. Growing up in Florida Mountain Dew has always been a favorite, the country parts of Florida anyway. Loved the Jeep commercial with Harrison Ford and the little girl growing potatoes for the Lay's commercial made me smile. Love popping chips into my mouth while sipping soda! Though think Coke goes better with Lay's and I'm a purist when enjoying a Mountain Dew. 














Monday, February 03, 2025

Fair Weather. Fake Spring. Winter Weather Coming Back in Mid February.... Enjoy It While You Got It!

 


Sunny days.
Maybe a daze.


Not a lot of weather going on in the USA today!


Snow is up where it belongs.

Sliding door is open as the sun is setting and it's cooling off. Earlier I had the AC on for a bit. I'm a Miami girl, when it's hot you turn the AC on no matter what month we are in and after an hour or so the sun began it's dance towards the February horizon and remembered it's February and it cooled off again.

Sunny, fair weather days are for people who really don't like stormy weather. Back in the day when TWC did stories on North Carolina having a possible Winter Event or there was a Tornado Warning my best friend in Miami would text me "U got weather!!!" and I'd giggle. Never once did she text me "you got weather" when it was fair, sunny and boring as that was not "weather" though I know many of you love boring, fair, weather days.

So for those of you who are desperately seeking weather in the South know that long range models are flirting with Winter Weather and Ice in Mid February. Well, if there was any time of year when we might get winter weather and ice....it'd be Mid February!

So let's take a look and again remember this is only slightly more possible than anything the groundhog may have implied yesterday. 



I'm not going to bet the farm just yet.
2 weeks away.
Maybe.

We will see.
Watching.

Stay tuned.

We are in "Fake Spring"
It's a tease.
Mother Nature is a tease.

Go figure.....

Sweet Tropical Dreams,
BobbiStorm
@bobbistorm on X
X mostly weather...
Insta and elsewhere whatever!





Friday, January 24, 2025

Polar Vortex on Ozempic This Coming Week... Eowyn Does Ireland and Scotland. Hurricane Season 128 Days Away... Have a Great Weekend!

 


Storm over Ireland, Scotland 


Windy, stormy


Going to try and keep this short today!
Trifecta in the N ATL.
Greenland - Scotland - Barents Sea


Look at the size and scope....
...takes up much of the NE Atlantic.
Tail slides down near Africa.
Really impressively wild.
Zoom Earth!

Just a little blog post to say the snow in my backyard that's in the shade is probably going to melt today. Darn. I kind of love looking out, downstairs from my perch in my bedroom or the porch and seeing the snow. A reminder that in 2025 Raleigh finally got weather after 3 years of barely nothing. 

Ireland and Scotland getting a wild storm. That region is actually very prone to wild Atlantic storms we just rarely hear about them. There's a really old classic movie Ryan's Daughter that's a long, sometimes sad love story and yet what I remember most was the storm scenes. Incredible storm scene!! They really have wild storms up in that part of the world, but in 2025 they have storm named Eowyn and don't ask me who names these storms. I'm just playing a long as it's a big storm and as my snow is melting and the Polar Vortex is on Ozempic and just wasting away I figured it was worth making note of a hurricane like storm on January 24th, 2025. Okay I Googled it for ya! I do love horses, they are truly joyful!






As for the the rest of Winter I do believe the Carolinas will get a chance again, doubt Florida will get more snow tho I don't discount anything this year!

I'm making either chicken or an eggplant dish with ground meat and tehina and carmelized onions or both tonight. I need parsnips for soup and some more culinary inspiration! 

Listening to music these days and doing "stuff" as I enjoy January as June 1st is 128 days away, way too far away for me to obsess on what the 2025 Hurricane Season will be. But I will be looking at historical analogs to this crazy winter to see what sort of crazy hurricane season we may see. You know that old saying "love the one your with" I feel that way about the Seasons, enjoy Winter and the Seasons before they slip away while wishing for Spring. 

Sweet Snowy Dreams,
BobbiStorm
@bobbistorm on X
X mostly weather, Insta whatever


Not the best soundtrack.....good storm scenes.
If you can catch it on Netflix

So let's watch some awesome dancing.
I studied dance, remember?
Read profiles.
It's kind of like tap...
...not as colorful as Bollywood.
But I have a friend who loves this..
..so I love it too1
Also incredible dancing.......
Eurovision so much better than the Oscars!


:)









Wednesday, January 22, 2025

Snowed in Raleigh. Over an Inch... Sunshine and Snow Beautiful Tho It's a Cold 21 Degrees as I Post this Blog. Can We Get Another Snowfall? I Believe So!

 


Mitch says this all the time....
...but a picture is worth a ton of words!

My yard is filled with snow.
There's fake snow falling from the tree.
Bit of a breeze blowing.
It's 20 degrees as I type this...
...and birds playing in trees.
Makes the snow fall..

As  close as I've gotten in NC this year as seeing snow falling in the daytime! It keeps snowing after the sun sets and that leaves me standing outside in the cold staring at a light trying to capture the snow falling in the dark and I want daytime snow falling from a Carolina sky sometime this Winter. And, considering this is the second snowfall, I'm fairy sure there will be a third. Again I can go to the snow, but I like when the snow comes to me.  Each time you remember how beautiful the neighbor's roof looks with snow on it or the deep green pine trees swaying a little in a cold breeze and how pretty the neighbors back door on her porch looks covered in snow. 


It's a try a new Nespresso flavor day!
Peanut Sesame. Hmnn.
Was wondering.
Actually reminds me of Halvah.
I love Halvah.
I love snow!

Sipping my Nespresso watching the little bluebirds flutter around the maple tree, snow falling in a fine mist as if it's snowing. Fake Snow!!  I'll go outside for a walk when it warms up a bit, maybe to 30 degrees. Just sipping Nespresso and enjoying the surprisingly awesome tastes as I just tried a new set of capsules in honor of our rare, random snowfall. 


So... may come back and post later.
Just doing my thing.
Enjoying...
...snow!

BobbiStorm
@bobbistorm on X

You can go to Carolina in  your mind...
...with this song.

4 Seasons. All beautiful.
Most my friends from high school....
...moved up North a ways in the South.
Or way UP North because too much summer in Miami










Tuesday, January 21, 2025

A Little Bit of Snow History Repeating in the Deep South. Rare but Can Happen Especially With a Polar Vortex Plunging South.

 


My father used to say ....
..God has a funny sense of humor.
Will go with that one.
Hurricane House is covered in Snow :)

I've always loved the unusual as long as it doesn't involve a serial killer or something. My friend Sue Ellen would appreciate that joke but you know what I mean. A rare burst of snow in the Deep South or a busted forecast that was for a glazing suddenly delivers 6 inches! I've heard it said that busted forecasts usually bust most often when it's a big bust; historical weather the models missed and no one expected are always wild.

Josh, aka @iCyclone, named his beautiful new home in Bay Saint Louis "Hurricane House" and it's currently getting what to many  people down that way would call a blizzard. Joking, but there's always that one person! Well definitely those who did not witness the 1963 Winter Storm that dumped that 10 inches of snow on his homesite. 


I always double check this and indeed, 10 inches plus!


New Year's Eve storm of 1963 that obviously left snow on the ground as they started 1964!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Year% You will note things began with a system down by the Yucatan that came together with the upper air patterns of COLD COLD COLD that dipped LOW LOW LOW and it snowed and snowed and snowed! Love history and I especially love weather history. History repeats. History is often one of the greatest stories you can read up on and often you can watch it in real time. In this case the Winter Storm was across a huge part of the USA.  It was a deadly storm, check the link out below if you want to know.

Before the term Polar Vortex...


https://www.weather.gov/hun/hunsur_1963-12-31

In 1977 it snowed in Miami and when I say snow I don't mean that the ground was covered, but cold enough for it to drop enough flakes on car windshields to draw the date and take a picture. Actually a few areas far inland where the weather drops fast had enough to make a snowball, before it  melted. That's what I'm told by people who never forgot seeing snow falling in Miami.


When I lived in LA I never saw snow fall.
A friend in Torrance saw some flakes.
Near the beach I believe.
Maybe


I know Malibu ... Pacific Palisades saw flakes!
I lived in West Hollywood in those days.
No snow of the weather variety.

As for my life in Raleigh.
I am in Raleigh today.


This is the most upside down weather map ever.
Normally it's reversed and the coast seems nada.
But hey it's 2025 and anything goes.
Right?
Right!

I'm in the Dusting to 2 inches.
I'll see soon enough.
Not holding my breath....
.....my hoping! 


Think I'll call the big guy Desperado

So.......wherever you live and whatever you are doing I hope you are doing it with love and happiness and a good sense of humor. I know many hate winter, I am not a hater. I love it. A huge hawk like bird the shape of an owl stopped on my fence today and just sat looking around. Usually it's high up in the Pines, but seeing as it sits there for the longest time was wild. Different. Didn't want to go outside and scare it away.  Was about 23 degrees up there in the trees so maybe was warmer on the fence? Who knows, but it flew away and life goes on today. Maybe I'll get a trace of snow, hope so, but not holding my breath and hoping to be pleasantly surprised. Not a political comment, but it's cute to see Marco Rubio make the move to DC in a new job as he's a "home boy" for me as I grew up in the West Miami area. Great place to live, while we lived there before moving to Miami Beach which is prettier but not the same. West Miami kids are great, an odd mix of cultures all living together out in the suburbs. I have a brother who lives by the Bay downtown and he goes out to Bird Road to get a taste of the old neighborhood and some of the better restaurants in Miami are actually out on Coral Way or on Bird Road and they are way more affordable than the ones in Brickell or Miami Beach!

Back in Raleigh watching for snow.
Tho probably will fall after dark.
If at all... trying to not get too
emotionally invest
:)


I follow Allan Huffman in Raleigh.
Shows snow....to some degree.
Stay tuned.



Now you know the rest of the story.

Sweet snowy dreams!

BobbiStorm
@bobbistorm on X
X mostly weather, Insta whatever.






















Friday, January 17, 2025

The Trouble With Winter Weather in the Coastal South. Deep South. Savannah - Charleston - Wilmington NC & What Sort of Winter Weather?

A look at the WV for the USA

Shows the dip from the North...
...and the constant FLOW... East.
Where these meet up is everything.


There's energy moving into the Gulf of Mexico.

The trouble with living in Raleigh is that every once in a while the Winter Weather goes Deep and so DEEP that it misses you as it races along to your South and does odd things like snowing on the beach in Wrightsville. So many ways to miss out on snow here in Raleigh and yet we do get snow more often than many other Southern towns as we are after all in NORTH Carolina. Sure hope we don't miss out ....

The trouble with Winter Weather in the Deep South is that it all depends on what sort of Winter Weather you'll be getting. Yes, into capitalization today as it emphasizes the relevant, salient points here. Back a while we got a wild dose of Winter Weather in NC and in Charleston it snowed deep enough to take pictures standing in the snow smiling and yet parts down along the coast got more Ice than snow. The pretty coastal Carolina Palm Trees sort of collapse inward after they thaw from ICE and it's not pretty, not scenic and really not very tropical. But, then again Myrtle Beach is not Miami which is tropical and rarely has to worry on frozen precipitation let alone an Ice Storm. People love seeing snow on the beach in the Carolinas and it melts really fast. In 2018 Wrightsville had enough surprising snow that someone built a snowman and took a fast picture. Snow on the beach in Maine is totally normal, but not in the Carolinas.


We once moved to Savannah, something most people aren't aware of as we didn't tell anyone we might be moving. I love Savannah, there's an awesome community there and it's a place I really would like to live except that it really, rarely gets snow and it's hellishly hot in the Summer. The lack of snow chances bothered me, but about 7 years ago it did snow some and everyone was excited and then life went on. It didn't work out and it was just as well as Covid happened a few months later and shut down the city for a long while and Raleigh was a good place to be during Covid while the really wonderful community we wanted to move to was shut down in Savannah. Still Savannah is one of my favorite places to visit. Distant cousins are everywhere there in the Bonaventure Cemetery (giggling but true) and have made some good friends who are alive and happy to live there. Maybe One day...........

But for a weather girl.......you add up the positive and negatives.
SNOW and HURRICANES in NC
Savannah ranks low on both of those .... tho who knows, as I said maybe one day. 
Jax is good too, but that's for another blog in January.

A bit of snow is good, as long as nothing kills the hanging moss.

Snow in Jax or Tally is a rare but semi-common treat in wicked winters (not capitalized) and it awesome for photo ops. Happens more than people realize, all the cool kids drive up (a long drive from Miami) to get a picture. Rarely enough for a snowball fight, but flakes falling fast then melting when the sun comes out strong.

Too much of a good thing can really put a damper on the fauna that's so beautiful in the Coastal South.

That's all that I'm saying.

Snow in Tampa would be cool!

Tampa has better chances of snow than Miami and when it does snow a little, there's a whole lot more than Miami got! South of The Lake it's really, really hard to get snow! But hey, it's 2025 anything goes, right?



In Baltimore, a city that says it's Southern...
... and in ways it is....kind of.
Double use of prepositions is okay, right?


They be gettin' Winter Weather.

Everyone have a good day.
Soon nuff we will all know...
..where it snows.
Til then it's all speculation.

Mitch in SC has a YouTube channel.
Check him out.
Use Time Stamps if you are low on patience.


Sweet Snowy Dreams
BobbiStorm
@bobbistorm on X
X mostly weather
Insta...whatever.


Video of weather vs music....
...okay here's the music.


Ps If you want Texas Snow Chances....
...check out Thor

Weather is afterall locational!!