A writer, a muse, a librarian. A happy Chabadnik who found love again and having a good time watching the weather, hurricanes and the seasons, listening to music and enjoying life with a sense of humor and trying to make sense of it all.
Friday, July 10, 2009
El NINO.. NO Tropical Activity.. Modoki?
Well... today the news has come out from the Climate Prediction Center that says this is an official "El Nino" of sorts and we have not yet sorted out what kind it is..
Neither have we sorted out how strong or what it's name is... but we can hear it quacking.
Modoki means.. "similar but not the same" so y'all might want to remember that for a trivial contest if you are taking Philosophy 101. One could write volumes on how similar some things are but not quite the same.
Not sure which of these is Modoki or it's friend ...because they are similar but different ;)
If it quacks.. it is a duck. Peking, Mallard or White-winged Scouter... it swims, it has feathers and it goes "Quack! Quack!"
I am wondering if some Asian group of lobbyist will complain we have given it an Asian name and will demand we change the name to one with symbols or letters and numbers such as "@%$!! El Nino" or "E42S El Nino" but the point is not what it is called but what it will bring. How it will affect our hot and dry summer or keep the rain falling on places that are already water logged.
And...where will storms track? Where will they form?
So many questions... and we will have to watch to see how they are answered because only this similar but different El Nino will tell the story and give us the answers. And, as they say hindsight is 20/20.
Waiting for Time Magazine to come out with some sort of Anime Cover Drawing for this particular El Nino ... the one in 97 got big play.. how will the media handle this one I wonder? Can't wait to see...
And, why do El Nino Years always coincide with major upheavals in my life? Must be some karma, astrological question I would pose to Miss Cleo if I only knew where to find the charming shaman!!
As for me... I have found out the following trivia about North Carolina.
There is a region known as the Sandhills but I can't seem to figure out specifically where it is... somewhere there was an old continental shelf... well you can read for yourself ;)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandhills_(Carolina)
Looks like my backyard........ anyways...
Take care and be well and all the best ....Good Shabbos!
Besos Bobbi
Extra Credit Reading: http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/2007/2006JC003798.shtml ;)
Have you noticed? I think you have... Strong winds across the tropical basin are making tracking a thing to remember..
Climo will come around and change things soon.. I am sure.. but for now... the only real storm I could find was this one...
Nothing much for me... trying to get my bearings and figure out what I need to do first.
Went to a Durham Bulls game last night... cute... very cute, nice night. Maybe post pics later but going to take a walk for now and think on life.. not too hard mind you.
Besos Bobbi... if anyone in Raleigh knows where I could get a good cuban coffee... please advise..
I still think its a bit crazy to be moving up north to be living down south. But, I am moving up to the very Southern, coastal state of North Carolina in a few hours where my husband is waiting and my wicker dresser is waiting and my new life is waiting...
So much waiting, waited so long in so many ways and now the moving day is finally here.
Not much going in the tropics but my tropical friends insist things are changing and soon we will have tropical weather to talk about. And, I will be blogging about it from the Carolinas. Actually, looking forward to see how they handle the tropics on the nightly news up there.
A strong high is in place and yet frontal boundaries are still moving across the continental US. It still doesn't look all that friendly to me. And, truth is climo says it doesn't really get going til August. Will see if that new funky Modoki El Nino materializes or just the same old El Nino. As only.. time will tell.
Enjoy the song... enjoy the sentiments except that I am leaving with a wedding ring but every place I go I will think of you .. my online friends.
So, my best friend Sharon is right...that scroll is way too darn slow. By the time you get past the cords they give out and "..which can down small limbs" scrolling so slow you can fall asleep watching it.. by W time it gets to the real info your electric will go out from a close lightning strike!!
Was so hot today in Miami, I mean hot and sort of dry as the high pressure area to our east tries to move in and then the sea breeze and land breeze collide and wham, bam, thank you mam we have torrential rains and the whole sky turns deep purple.
It's grumbling again to my west as I type this, a deep guttural sort of grumble that bespeaks even more severe weather than I just saw.
My son in Aventura just called and asked me if there was a tsunami or something? There was 2 feet of flood water in Aventura parking lot and in Biscayne Blvd. While we were speaking the mini cooper in front of him stalled out and had to be pushed out of the street.
Barely any rain here at my house just to the south of Aventura.. a stunning rainbow came out and covered the sky.
This is Miami in the summer, in a rainy summer when people look heavenward and worry if the rains will spoil tomorrow night's fireworks.
God has his own fireworks tonight it seems.
As for me, personally speaking, I spent the day cleaning up the house, watching people take furniture that we put out on the street. Sort of like some reality tv show. Everyone inside is going "take the sofa, take the sofa" and when he does.. everyone cheers. I hope Juan and Maria enjoy the china cabinet.
It's amazing to pack up your life and watch bits and pieces sitting here and there, found treasures in the back of the closet my pink Boston Redsox hat, blue and white pom poms, old license plates and things left behind by the kids that they once loved but no longer want.
And, as the scroll goes 2303z 302DEG....and back to blue I notice they must have cancelled the severe thunderstorm warning.
From Cuba, New Mexico to Portland, Maine I wish all my closest friends and family a wonderful July 4th!
Uncle SAL VS The Boy Child - Hurricane Season 2009
Well seriously...every year around July people begin writing the Obit for the hurricane season because ______________________, ______________________ and _______________ are going to be a BIG problem and every tracker, researcher and tropical met gets moody.
Once, long ago we used to say someone needs a long stay at a place named the Neil Frank Home for the Tropically Insane ;)
Thinking now days we need a big Sandals resort on some tropical beach where we can drink Hurricanes and light incense and dance the tango in hula skirts and Hawaiian shirts.
I can tell things are getting bad by the number of texts I am getting in the morning around the time the Tropical Weather Outlook comes out.
Both of these things can have a strong effect on the 2009 Hurricane Season.
Trying to keep this simple here as there are so many big words to use but .... dust is moving west as it so often does this year, wrapped up in African waves and along the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone.
El Nino creates strong winds from west to east that tend to blow apart waves trying to develop and move this way.
The waves get caught in the cross hairs..as a friend of mine likes to say.
Doesn't mean we won't have a season just it's not going to be 1995 or 2005 again this year and am sure most of those living in the tropical basin will be thrilled. But, to think you don't have to worry is misleading, you do... stock up on batteries, on water, on supplies and keep watching.
Don't ever let your guard down because when you do..is just when they sneak up on you.
So.......will see if SAL upsets the tropical cart or if El Nino will huff and puff and blow the tops off the clouds ... time will tell.
If you are really losing your mind and/or bored silly... check out your favorite 80s musicals on youtube :)
Here's 3 of mine... that mean so much to me..hey, was the 80s... and I lived it in L.A. No hurricanes of the tropical type..
Rainy Day in Miami and across many parts of the USA it seems. Even on Cape May it's raining far away.
There is a beautiful wave off the coast of Africa but it's not going to get a name or a number, it's just pretty to look at and reminds you that time is moving on and soon it will be August. And, if the Gulf of Mexico and areas closer to the US are shut down because of the current set up then we will look down the road at storms forming and coming in from the east.
Sort of brief post today just to say nothing, mark time and move on.
Yesterday was my last day at the College where I work. Going in today to get my check and give over some keys and take care of a few things and then I am on vacation for the next week. Working vacation anyway, have to shut down my life here and move up to North Carolina where the rest of my life awaits me.
These last few days have felt like I am away at a Bed and Breakfast in Miami, two suitcases worth of clothes and books and notes and nothing but some old furniture that is being tossed. And, watching the rain fall... and looking for a sunny day to go out and play in Miami one last time.
That area in the SW Carib is acting like most systems in the SW Carib this time of year... annoying. It pulses up and looks good, weakens looks like it's falling apart, pulses up again. A very unfriendly, upper air environment making it difficult to get it's act together. That is par for the course this time of year which is why June is Too Soon. However, the NHC is keeping up the yellow alert and giving it less than 30% chance of developing...however asking people to keep watching it. So, says Pasch and Landsea in the most recently released Tropical Weather Outlook. So, while watching it with one eye i am going to go away for the day with my family for the ultimate Miami road trip... the Overseas Highway. How many people do you know who can drive half way to Cuba on a Sunday??
Below are some great tips from Officer Snook!
Note..these tips are valuable in Florida even in a severe thunderstorm that could bring down small tree limbs with winds in excess of 50 mph!
I know this because this past week we had a rainstorm that was so strong my son texted me and asked me "what the hell was going on??" and I believe Landshark Stadium (not so far away) had gusts in the mid 50s.. so told him it sounded like a Gust Front as it was just before a strong, severe thunderstorm. Didn't think much on it.. it's normal for garbage cans to go flying but yesterday when I was home and went to open the shades there was this big, dead, brown tree looking thing in our yard. Give it a few days, they turn brown... wasn't the whole tree...just half of it but it was higher than our roof and gave nice shade. Have to haul it away. Explains now why the bamboo looking bush on the other side of the house is broken as well. Looks like someone plowed a car into it and wondered how that happened. Gust front? Small twister? Straight line winds??? Living in Florida in the Summer.
So...these tips from Officer Snook could help you if you have children or grandchildren or nieces of nephews or a playgroup maybe?
I picked this coloring book up at that recent hurricane show that few people bothered to come to from the Red Cross and various city agencies. Great things given out for kids to teach them while they color.
1. Stay away from downed power lines and any puddles nearby. You could get shocked and hurt badly. So, keep a watchful eye!
2. Avoid floodwaters, leaking chemicals, sharp ojects and fallen trees. Remember, common sense is the key.
3. Stray animals may bite if they're hurt or scared-please understand. If you see one, tell an adult, who can lead a helping hand.
4. Water can become dirty after a hurricane and may be unsafe to drink. To be safe, use bottled water or have an adult boil water from a sink.
5. Help your family clean up garbage and other storm debris. Putting garbage in its proper place is one way to help me.
"Remember, when you lend a helping fin, you and the environment will win!! Help Officer Snook stop water pollution and be safe after a hurricane.
(that's what the book said... first person to send me their address and i will send them the book for them or their kids to color!!)
That's it for me today... oh..and buy your kids lots of batteries for whichever toy they most need to get through the period waiting for them to hook back up the electric! And, a small flashlight they can hold!
Keep watching that area in the Caribbean..something is there trust me... but until it gets into a friendlier area (if ever) it's not developing any time soon.
Besos Bobbi...
Enjoy but not if you get dizzy easily:
Much better but turn the sound down...
And...for the kiddies.. www.earthman.tv to teach them all they know about being Green :)
chow for now Bobbi..can't wait to get on the road again to see things I've seen before..
NHC Issues Orange Alert, Ups the Ante for ANA to form in the Carib.. & My Thoughts on Michael Jackson's Death
Amazing day for multi-tasking people. So much to look at and watch on the news and so much to pay attention to in the weather and does anyone remember North Korea still wants to test their long range missles? Crazy world we live in... time stands still and we all seem lost in the late 70s, 80s, 90s... listening to Michael Jackson songs.
Tropically speaking...the area in the Caribbean has consolidated it's convection now around the center of the system or where the powers that be have been running models on ... so give a look at a few pics here and a loop to loop and my advice to you all.. keep an eye on it... Ana could form from this blob of brightly colored convection.
Water is warm enough, if a high can develop aloft (as it may be doing.. *may*) and steering currents would take it north somewhere... through the Yucatan Channel and into the Gulf of Mexico. If this storm forms and gets into the Gulf of Mexico all bets are off on how strong it could become and landfall would be a given.
So... sit up and pay attention. Watch CNN's coverage on the King of Pop Music dying or keep watching Fox or listening to his music but pay attention because the NHC moved it up to Orange for a good reason and it looks a whole lot better this afternoon than it did this morning. This morning all the bright convection was not over the center and racing away. This afternoon it looks more like it's pulling together. And, if you watch loops you will see that if it develops it can become a nice sized system with a large pocket to enlarge size wise and move north into the Gulf of Mexico.
Early for June... moving towards July... but Alma did it back in 66 this time of year and other storms can as well. Might mess up someone's July 4th later next week.
An Alma track is possible, rarely happens but possible something similar to it maybe?
How do I feel about Michael Jackson's Death? I suppose my mind is really on how I feel about his life? His death seems sort of ABC simple but we will wait for reports from his autopsy.
As I said, I went home yesterday expecting to watch coverage of Farrah Fawcett's death and came home to breaking news of Michael Jackson. Life is always so full of surprises.
And, yesterday was a day known to me as Gimel Tammuz. The 3rd day of the Jewish Month of Tamuz when the Lubavitcher Rebbe's heart gave out... though his soul lives on forever. It was the anniversary of that event in 1994 that weighed on my mind when I woke up yesterday. Suddenly, I was plunged back into the 80s and my mind kept walking through memories of living in L.A. and each of those new Michael Jackson songs being released.
I moved to L.A. at the end of 1978. I was married to my ex-husband and working for Chabad Lubavitch. We were living first in Long Beach, California and later Los Angeles. Not living in Mumbai or China or some far away place but the All American Dream I suppose, living in West Hollywood a few blocks from MGM studios. One of my closest friends lived in a house just south of Melrose Avenue where Clark Gable lived with Carole Lombard. The previous owner never changed anything and they didn't have the money to so in the little guest house in the back yard where Clark entertained his friends we let the babies run around and play. Amazing but true, so is life in L.A. I met James Caan when he spoke at the Dorothy Chandler Pavillion at a Chabad Dinner. Handsome, all I could think was he looked a lot like my old boyfriend from high school. We lived in a strange world, we took drives on Saturday Night after Shabbos up La Cienega to Sunset and would look at the new billboards advertisting new records for Madonna, Cyndi Laufer and Michael Jackson. I was into country back then, still am... loved the song "You're the Reason God Made Oklahoma" and wow..so many memories.
Kids went to Bar Mitzvahs and moonwalked. He was everywhere, larger than life yet in my mind he was still little Michael Jackson from the Jackson 5. I never really could wrap my head around a man singing soprano.. it's just not my style or tastes but the music, the beat... and the beat goes on.
It was a good life in L.A. I did a lot of good things I am proud of to this day and made some great friends and well.. living in L.A. during that time was wild and when I moved there I was pregnant with my second child Shayna and spent most of my time wearing a dark brown Farrah Wig (Lubavitch and Orthodox Jewish married women cover their hair with scarves or wigs).. and wearing Candies platforms, jean maternity jumpers and on the radio was one song after another in an evolution of Michael's style.
LA was MICHAEL JACKSON.. talk man on the radio too named Michael Jackson:
And, stranger than truth was the way his life unraveled into a bizarre, strange way of life that no one could understand.. probably not even Michael.
You can't take away from him his body of work and how his various styles imprinted the 70s, the 80s and the 90s even if the last few years made him often a household joke or bizarre story. A family friend was there in a Mall in Miami when he rented out FAO Schwartz, she was so excited to meet him.. he rented it for the night for a slumber party and she was in shock at the way he had become.. how he looked and how paranoid he was for his privacy and well... sad to deal with truth sometimes. We were all shocked.
And, I think on how the $100,000 a month he was spending to rent a mansion in Holmby Hills could have gone to helping so many poor people who are struggling to just survive. And, yet he was a legend and he died and yes when Elvis died..that was sad too and also a little bizarre at the end.
So, I watched some loops last night and couldn't sleep..I had spent time earlier at Bais Menechem listening to a Rabbi give a talk on the Rebbe and I was lost in thinking on life and purpose and what my purpose is in the whole grand scheme of things... and I decided to put on CNN one last time to see what new news story about his death they were showing and I heard someone talking, a voice I know... familiar and far away... talking on how Michael wanted to make a difference, to connect spiritually and how the people around him were responsible for enabling him at the end and I thought.."what is going on and why do I know that voice" and the news anchor said, "Thank you Rabbi" and I thought "huh" and then I started to giggle and shake my head and think on my strange life and realized it was Shmuley talking about Michael Jackson. I had forgotten the whole day that Shmuley had worked with him a while back. Shmuley Boteach. Old friend, family friend.. Miami Boy.. Miami Beach Boy to be exact. Grew up with Shmuley ... he was my junior counselor when I was Head Counselor at Gan Israel Day Camp one summer, he would help me with the arts and crafts and later eat at our Shabbos table when we were first married... how do I know so many people, freaks me sometimes and I try not to think on it.. it's just normal for me I suppose.
Shmuley trying to talk to the legend...all the King's horses and all the King's men couldn't put Michael together again but he was right.. he is right, he was always a bright young boy...with bright eyes that sparkled when he would talk fast and Shmuley or as the world knows him Rabbi Shmuley is right...
"Michael's death is not just a personal tragedy, it is an American tragedy. Michael's story was the stuff of the American dream - a poor black boy who grows up in Gary, Indiana, and ends up a billionaire entertainer. But we now know how the story ends. Money is not a currency by which we can purchase self-esteem and being recognized on the streets will never replace being loved unconditionally by family and true friends."
Nothing like true friends and family who love unconditionally and nothing like an adult trying to spend his whole life trying to get over the effects of being abused as a child. Takes a life time sometimes...
I don't always agree with Shmuely but this time.. oh yeah. And, Shmuely who is forever fourteen in my mind is talking about Michael Jackson who to me is still a small boy singing with his older brothers.
May I say that if he is remembered by one thing in his life for me it won't be moonwalking or singing soprano or being a creative genius it will be for bringing other artists together as diverse as Lionel Richie and Willie Nelson to see We Are The World ...making a song for a cause... to change the world.
I remember the first time my ex-husband and I watched them sing that song and we were blown away by the fact that such an event could happen and how it could change the world.
When people work together with love to make a difference... it is beautiful.
So.... at the end... I will hear the song "We are the World in my mind" always and think of the amazing kaliedscope of musical icons who worked together
"We are the world, we are the children We are the ones who make a brighter day So let's start giving There's a choice we're making We're saving our own lives it's true we'll make a better day Just you and me"
I ask anyone reading this to make a difference in someone's life... do it for Michael Jackson.. do it for Farrah...do it for someone you know who was just born or who is dying or who is ill... that is what this world is about... doing good... sharing..giving love...
Leave this world a better place than you found out..
Great song..great message... on that level I think Shmuley is wrong.. he did find his purpose but sadly...he lost it and that is when his life spiraled out of control.
Find your purpose... and make this place a better place for you and i..
and..............keep an eye on the Caribbean because Ana may be forming down there as we listen to Michael Jackson songs today.
Caribbean Yellow Alert... Sexy Little Orange Ball of Convection Down There
Yes Virginia... sex sells and this is one sexy little mass of convection down in the Caribbean and that rhymes. More later... NHC gives is slim chances but is watchin'
Rest in peace darlin' Angel...
I feel like the 80s just died...
More on Sex in the Caribbean and how I feel about the passing of two symbols of a time and a place in my life..in our lives.
Wanna look at some water vapor loops before commenting and my ride is here..
Well..what is there to say that you don't already know. I like weather, hurricanes, football and the redsox, music, moonlight and I write a lot. Been quoted in the Wall Street Journal on hurricanes (very cool) and single and looking for love as my life is real good but a good ole boy would sure make it a whole lot better when the sun goes down...chi meegwetch.. for reading this little old long blog.
