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!
Sunday, June 28, 2009
SW Carib Iffy... Tips For Kids in a Hurricane
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..
(I was never much for Dylan or Zimm under any name prefer listening to the rain.
Coming down so hard on the house that I keep checking to see if it's hailin.
Since my ride just called in that it's flooding up by him and he's waiting a drop until the raindrops let him get out of the house... figured would do a REAL TROPICAL update although not sure if anyone is reading this from Puerto Vallarta.
So Andres... go west... go out to sea and spare those nice people vacationing in Puerto Vallarta!
Great song. A good friend of mine loves this song and I always think of it when a storm is out somewhere west bound. Great song, enjoy.
Breaking News... they just added a Severe Tstorm warning with rotation and possible tornadoes and beginning to wonder when they will hoist the flash flood warnings. As dark as night in North Miami Beach right now. Trust me I know growling thunder and it just got so dark outside that the street lights came on!!
going to go watch... more later.. wild, really much darker now than when I took that pic... feels like an eclipse going on, really.
Andres.... I hate this list... old recycled list. 99 in Miami Beach, 100 in FLL
Meant Andres. Did I say Alma? Read an old diary entry from when I was a little girl and thought we were going to get Alma and we didn't and I felt so cheated and well.. interesting to see what I was thinking when I was a kid... I wanted a hurricane. Must have Alma on the brain. Sorry bout that. Ana in the Atlantic Basin will be the first name.
Not much changes I guess... tropically inspired ever since Donna I suppose.
Here's the map for the first epac system. Small chance something could form in the Bay of Campeche also known as BOC and if so it would just probably slide west. Could happen, time will tell.
Very hot in Miami... in Iowa and in Ottawa.. got kids calling in from all over the USA and Canada. 99 in Miami Beach just 2 blocks from the ocean and 100 in Ft. Lauderdale. Here's a view from the bank tower now working again after the bad rain storm a few weeks back put it out of commission. Back just in time. My son went swimming today at the Beach... didn't seem hot to him he said, he was .. in the water.. with friends, on vacation...
All the years in LA I never got to Baja, always wanted to go... supposed to be beautiful. Andres should miss it though they could get some weather.. enjoy the youtube video.
As for the train wreck in DC... bad accident, worse case scenario being rush hour and very hot there... those people who were injured need to get to the hospital and get water. Horrible accident, wondering why? Amazing more accidents don't happen ... the whole commuter train grid in this country is awesome and amazing and more people should take it and use cars less. Then again a lot of places don't have a good rail system. Watching CNN...resting and too tired to eat dinner. What's strange is that this feels more like a Santana Ana day in L.A. then it does seem like Miami. Very hot and windy, dry, very dry.
Okay, Epac finally got it's first storm! Alma. This won't affect you of course unless you are off the West Coast of Mexico or taking a Baja vacation. Currently 50 mph!
In the Continental United States... especially the Southeast...
You want cool weather go to Providence, RI or Portland, Maine. My advice. You heard it here first. Even Asheville, NC will be in the upper 80s today.
Miami... upper 90s which means it will feel like 100.. which means if it doesn't rain it's going to be one of the hottest days we have had in ages... since 1998 in fact. Not 97... 98! Yup, 98 degrees..
Going to work. My advice... stay cool, if you go to the beach use tons of sunscreen and drink lots of water... and or go to the movies. Or work. I am off to work.
Ft. Lauderdale as I write this is 91 degrees at 8 AM! Wow.. Stay cool... or die trying? Hmmmm think cool? Gotta go!
Besos Bobbi Ps... do they make cafecito ice cream???
Very Wet in the EPAC, Very Hot & Dry Across the South & Moving Days
Sitting here watching CMT and a commercial for Sonic and thinking we don't have one but lord would love a Jamoca Shake right about now. But, am going to take a bath and see if I can soak the dust off of me.
Today was the day the moving truck came... to take the bits and pieces of my life away. I am still here feeling like I am suddenly on vacation with an abbreviated wardrobe, a fridge full of yogurt and cherries and my laptop and TV. Everything is gone. My Hurricane Maps were sent up with my husband in his car along with the Old Country Roses and the yearbooks and my music box that plays CDs, Tapes, Digital Radio and songs that were put together for me over the last ten years while I compiled a collection of songs for every occasion under the weather which were not bought at the Five or Dime but specially made for me. How lucky can you get (hint..song cue) so in the end... I leave with music, with maps and with a lot of memories.
boxes....
will it get there in one piece??
Staying for a bit while my husband travels back and forth and I finish my work and finish the massive task of shutting down "the Meyer House" which is akin to trying to explain to half of America that Disney is really closing. No more parties, wayward teens looking for a sofa to sleep on or 'porch monkeys' or parties. The kids are mostly grown, living in way better digs than I ever lived and looking out for each other (and me) and I am moving up north to the Southern Town of Raleigh/Durham. Soon anyway.
The epac is very, very, very wet...and the SE part of the United States is very, very, very HOT.. so HOT..it was like 98 in Ft. Lauderdale today which is just up the road from my house. The "feels like" temperature was 105 and ALL I COULD THINK OF WAS..............Summer of 1997!
El Nino.
Same stupid list... hurricane names, watching Epac systems and wondering if they were going to "cross over" and become a Gulf Of Mexico storm... Caribbean... anything, any storm... lord we were so thirsty for storms that all we did was talk hurricanes, duct tape and had the crazies, funniest summer of my life since I was a kid watching the boys play baseball at the Khory Leaque with Janelle. Yep, summer days down south in the old south... baseball, climbing trees, watching the boys fish for catfish in the canal and waiting for the afternoon thunderstorms to roll in from the everglades and boom boom boom loud and mean and hope to see hail fall out of the sky as if that was as close to snow as we were ever gettin'.
Yep.. I am a Miami girl.
I drink Cafecito to wake up, eat grist with my eggs and when I get dressed up I put on sandals with heels. How the hell am I gonna go do North Carolina I wonder which to me... seems about real Northern. I mean it has NORTH in the name.. it's called the Old North State! Southern, Southern.. it is Southern Bobbi..and my Grandma did tell me that the South would rise again so I guess it will just have to rise with me living in North Carolina. Lord Have Mercy.
Okay.. I went on a tear here.. didn't mean to. Sorry.
Back to weather.
Epac... Pacific off the coast of Mexico has moisture, tons of it..and it may be oozing across into our neck of the woods but I would not hold my breath if I were you!
El Nino is a force to contend with and any time change happens in my life it is always an El Nino Year. Seriously... really...
IF you live in the Continental United States, a place we weather people fondly call "CONUS" then y'all watch out, drink your water, stay out of the sun and if my Grandma Mary was still alive she wouldn't be caught outside without a good parasol to keep the sun off of her. Drink your water, drink your sweet tea, drink....
It's going to get hotter before it gets cooler unlessin your sitting in front of a strong fan and the AC is working well.
Didn't know what to post today... thought there would be some good "Moving" songs but I couldn't find any that really spoke to me and Independence Day keeps nagging at me for some reason I can't remember and probably don't want to..
I youtubed "Moving Day" and got a clip from All in the Family which happens to be the day Gloria comes home with the news that she is having a baby and Archie finds out he is going to be a Grandfather and Mikey finds out he is going to be a Papa and figured perversely that works as it kills two birds with one stone.
Happy Father's Day to all my friends out there in online land... hope you had a great day with your kids, grand kids or a cute pooch who loves you! If you couldn't spend today with them..spend another day with them, what is in a name afterall? IF you had to work.. I will quote my Daddy, "you gotta do what you gotta do" so do it and that's the way life goes.
So...enjoy this clip and a few other musical ones that tell a story that there are no fitting word to tell and I would not even try to tell it in this very public forum but you know who you are..
Thank you for the music, for the good times and for the long talks. Thank you for dead corn stalks and the chiming clock which I am actually taking (go figure) and the music box and the hurricane maps and well.. I am just moving up the road and (oh shoot why did I suddenly think of the Jeffersons theme song lol) and... I am still Bobbi and I will still be around and I will still be posting and wishing I was in Key West and watching tropical weather... and seasonal weather and any weather.
This is not the move I planned on or the move I thought I would make but as a good ole friend often preaches to me... you got to trust in the Lord to give you what you need and sometimes when you let go of what you have you get something better. (don't wince and don't chuckle)
LOL.
Still here another two weeks or so... at least but I don't think there will be any Florida storms any time soon except afternoon thunderstorms!
moving day...
Great song... the boxes are packed up and gone but I am still here a little longer, finishing work, tying up the details and getting ready to shut down this place known as the Meyer House... party house, hang out and am shutting down the party I guess because it's time for me to move on...
Waited too long, hung on...waited... nothing more to wait for so I packed up my life and am moving on...
Deep sigh.... well ... it is time for me to move on... you can't wait forever and you can't sit on a fence forever, sometimes you just got to take a chance.
AS for Miami.. I Will always come back and forth to Miami, the Keys, Hollywood Beach but in a little while longer I will be gone...
Yup...love that song Independence Day the song that keeps playing in my head... Let Freedom Ring...
Let the whole world know that today is a day of reckoning...
It's time for me to fly... away...
Sorry if I rambled but.. it's been a big day for me... and suddenly with everything gone I feel so much more free... nothing here to remind me... strange but true.
Drink water and if you can't drink water..eat ice cream!
nothing...and stayed up all night Saturday Night Packing so.... went down to Key Largo, Harry Harris Beach, Kokomos at Holiday Isle and the ... Hurricane Monument.. one last goodbye... unless of course I go down there again before I leave ;)
And, never the twains shall meet said Mark Twain!!
Okay, maybe that was Shakespeare ...
There are three faces of the Tropics.
El Nino (where mother nature dresses up in some dastardly costume and puts on a fake mustache and speaks with a Spanish accent carrying an orange rose with thorns between his teeth trying to woo Mother Nature.)
La Nina (where the weather fairy comes out and shakes her magical wand and sprinkles weather dust across the land and we have WEATHER.... Hurricanes... )
NEUTRAL That's sort of a no man's land where you can't tell if Bob or Pat are a girl or a female and you don't care because there is no discrimination and everyone ignores them arguing if El Nino is coming or La Nina is starting.
We are I believe going into some strange sort of kwirky El Nino and that may affect us or not. Andrew was in an El Nino Year... sometimes they come on slow...and sometimes they disappear, hard to know for sure until you see the pearly whites of this teeth clutching that deep orange-red rose.
Picture above looks like we are at Yellow Alert and about to go Orange Alert..
So...you look, you read, you decide for yourself!
Everyone is talking about it... and we are wondering... are we going to see Roberto or Roberta this tropical season??
You know me.. love a handsome guy so.... I'll go with El Nino. Also, I've seen the sats and been watching them and noticed the strange weather patterns.
Here's some links where you can read up on this hear weather discussion by a few experts and a jazzy, tropical tune we know and love so you will know where I'll be this afternoon while you are trying to figure out the deeper, synoptic side of atmospheric weather!!
Does your little TV just stare back at you? Digital TV at Walgreens...for a Storm?
IF your nice little handheld TV that got you through many a hurricane now sits staring back at you looking sad and lost... you may want to invest in a more expensive handheld "digital" or... just go back to trying to listen on the radio (good luck)...
Personally, I think was one of the worst ideas anyone has come up with in a long, long time and only benefit the cable companies that are charging more and more and cannot seem to manage to get the local channels to work right but can bring you the cooking channel...so don't worry....
Nice...next time a storm is out there instead of local coverage I can watch Jim Cantore and Bobby Fray for $99.00 a month. Something is seriously wrong if you ask me...
Either way... here is a link for a costly little toy, red yet... and just doing my bit to help remind you that cute little walkman you used to watch Dolphin Games and Brian Norcross on is now a thing of the past :(
If you have the money...it will be there for your next Hurricane Party.. if not, hope you held onto one of those old, cute handheld radios for simulcast land...
Love and kisses.... Bobbi... As always...here for the party...
This is one picture but the loop below will tell the story...you can't figure out the weather by one picture... like life it takes a many words to tell a story properly. Pictures are words, they say something on their own but they don't tell the whole story.
What is an ULL you wonder? Well, if you don't wonder.. you will soon as you will hear me mention them a lot.
ULL - Upper Level Low
Well, here is a great glossary to use and definition: http://amsglossary.allenpress.com/glossary/search?id=upper-level-cyclone1
To dumb this down... it's spinning up in the atmosphere but not down below and when you have an ULL parked over a region it stirs up the atmosphere and you get rain on the "dirty" side of the low.. and it looks like OH WOW and then poof and then a little later we do it all over again. You can't have good development with ULLs all over the place so ... my question is... the predictions for shear based on models was for it to get more conducive not less... shows me something is wrong with the models right now.
LOOP THE LOOP: http://weather.unisys.com/satellite/sat_wv_east_loop-12.html
With conditions like that down there it's not going to be easy for anything to start spinning at the surface and get going. But, there could be tragic rains for places like Haiti where a strong afternoon thunderstorm with flash floods can destroy a village and have massive loss of life. Just because a storm does not spin doesn't mean it can't cause trouble and hurricanes can form and re curve out to sea and cause no trouble.
This is a strange June..there was snow in New Mexico yesterday, there was snow somewhere else the other day.
Bad Lightning Storms in Atlanta and Dallas... please do not stay outside when a storm is that close...
Telling you the weather is whacky this June and though June may be too soon I think some member of the El Nino family is playing pranks on Mother Nature.
Went to the beach yesterday for lunch.. beautiful, just stood there, walked in the water and stared down while the gentle waves created little whirlpools of crystals shining in the turquoise sea... stunning.
Look at those colors...
Besos Bobbi...my carpool is really late and have to go find out why... I know he isn't at the beach...so where is he?
Something to watch while waiting for something to watch... nice website
Great website to check out for those of you who love to watch the beach, the colors that are forever changing and the clouds that are forever building, rearranging and often bringing rain.
Some possible developments down in the Caribbean and models are playing with the area again... been told by a weather source I trust it's all a "tease" but well... sometimes a tease is a prelude to something more..and sometimes it's just a taste of rain and nothing more..
http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/flt/t1/loop-vis.html
I don't see it... but well who knows? For now that image screams windy and puts me in a tropical depression with nothing to track or watch but afternoon thunderstorms!
I never liked storms forming in the SW Carib. People watch and watch and watch and nothing happens... ever... or almost never.
So...going to let the loops loop and the music play and go to sleep early... watched blobs never form, you have to ignore them.. pretend they don't exist lol.
I still think when it gets closer to Cuba or in the Florida Straits that's the time it could develop.
Speaking of the Florida Straits.. my son and his friends are down there this week, lucky them... beautiful down there isn't it?
Beautiful everywhere when you have friends...
Going off... posting these links to these three beautiful songs for three very different types of friends.
Love and kisses... from balmy, tropical Miami.
Bobbi ps..did I mention at work we had water damage ..AC, rain damage... my son's school had AC/Flood damage.... water was a foot deep on parts of Washington Avenue... we aren't supposed to tell... the Better Business Bureau and Tourist councils want you to know we are fine, fine..fine.. just a little moldy, cough cough lol. Sh.... you didn't hear it from me!
Poof! Gone... like Mr. Eraserhead erased it away...
Still There Down In the SW Carib... As for me...went to the beach...
Still down there.... and sort of concentrated looking and centered. Be interesting to see if it looks half this good tomorrow morning...
Beautiful beach day in South Florida today before the rains came and pea sized hail fell on my front porch!
Notice all the debris and leaves flying about in the wind just prior to the itsy, bitsy, teeny, weeny, sized hail that fell...
Got up early, went to the Hollywood Beach... got a bit of sun... or a lot of sun and the water was so blue, green-blue and a bit wavy, choppy but not rough...and came home and saw that the blob down in the SW Carib is still there and hanging in.
What will be ...will be... remains to be seen but for tonight... looking kind of green and funky on funktop.
Keep watching.. it's not over it seems... just one of those "slow developers" according to the NHC.
Nite... tired, water logged, sun burned and got enough color to be looking good on funktop ;)
Lazy Sunday Morning - GFS Wishcasting or Is a Storm Brewing?
Okay, I should be packing but a good friend of mine named.. ummm Pete... once told me NEVER SAY SHOULD so... I could be packing... but I am not, not this morning. Want to get out before the monsoons begin...but nah...am sitting here reading the news and eating cherries, dark, delicious, sweet juicy cherries!
The GFS is still predicting a storm in the Caribbean this week and I know this because I woke up to the following email from my mildly crazy weather enthusiast brother:
"LOOK AT THE LATEST GFS MODELS........ SWEET!!!!! MAYBE A CAT 1 WED OR THURS SLAMMING US FROM THE SOUTH!!!!! .......HAHAHAHAH!!!!!"
Yes...that was my brother's email, he it seems does not read my blog ... the one in Greece does.. anyways.. I am digressing here into sibling stories.
"LOOK AT THE LATEST GFS MODELS........ SWEET!!!!! MAYBE A CAT 1 WED OR THURS SLAMMING US FROM THE SOUTH!!!!! .......HAHAHAHAH!!!!! "
Okay, so he is perhaps a little more gung ho than the GFS even. Here is the GFS for you to actually see.. not exactly Andrew, Hugo or even King!!
First, until the ULL moves away a bit over South Florida that could be a problem.
Second, winds across the SW Carib are brisk to put it nicely and whether an El Nino is forming or not... could be to blame here but think the deep SW Carib is not where we should be.. could be looking.
Third, watch the loops and wait for it to get closer to Cuba... sort of sit down there, how long it sits may be the key to formation.
Fourth, why am I typing it instead of just saying 4 ..have not have cafecito this morning I should be sipping coffee and not popping cherries!!
5th... I think it will begin to form around Cuba and as it enters the Florida Straits sort of pull together and then possibly form closer to the Bahamas and take off like a bat in hell or a lazy owl possibly. (Is there a law about hitting an owl in Virginia, btw... cause the owl did not make it...)
So.... personally I think that until it gets closer to Cuba it is much ado about nothing but who am I to throw rocks at the NHC who still has it's chances it Peter Yellow down in the SW Carib at 30% or less. Show me some orange guys and then we will talk.
Interesting story on Drudge this morning... heard it as I was falling asleep last night on the news or...trying to fall asleep last night. Snow on weather maps. Almost 60 years ago... so I wonder... what was that season like??
http://www.kxmc.com/News/386720.asp
When I read a story like that.. snow almost 60 years ago this is the first place my mind goes...
soupy down there... really hot, moist, wet and soupy... but the winds are too strong and until the there is some coalescing down south of Cuba and the Upper Level Low pulls slowly away it will be hard for anything to form.
Wondering personally if it begins to form, is hampered by the island of Cuba... waddles around like a wet duck in the Florida Straits and sort of forms off the coast of Miami and pulls out of here through the Bahamas to become Ana.
But... maybe I am just shooting the breeze on a lazy Sunday morning when I would rather be at the beach than packing and going through everything I own???
Since I am walking down memory lane here ...here is a great loop from the old HIRES! Nothing shows color better than this... gee, would be funny if that ULL worked it's way down to the surface off the coast of South Florida... just call me breezy!
Got to love a guy who can dance and keep his hat on ;) chic chic kaboom ;)
Would the INTELLICAST lie??? nah... (stop smiling) it's TRUE..something might be going on down there.. there you have it.. the Intellicast tells the truth.. unlike some people we know ;)
I'll probably catch hell for this but hey it's on facebook... one of my kid's closest friends... down the block from where I used to live and was deeper a few blocks away.
Great kids...lol. My son went to the movies tonight in Aventura..told him to be careful in high water... the Mall hopefully has better drainage than Barnes and Noble which is flooded out. My other son's storage at the mall (on second thought) had flooding on Friday but they purposely keep the stuff off the floor this time of year.
Went out for ice cream tonight...wore my platforms... walked right through the puddles... part of the parking lot flooded.
The NHC Draws the Yellow Circle in the SW Carib... Rains in Miami, Damage at the Fountainblue and more
Yes, the NHC went yellow today while I was off communing with God in my backyard watching a big massive butterfly flutter about this morning before the rains came down this afternoon.
Now, it's Saturday Night in rainy Miami... thunder, lightning and nonstop rain... what's a girl to do after she blogs? Will see..time will tell.
Yes I was off line for the Jewish Sabbath... missed a whole shoot out at the Canetalk Corral, an earthquake in the mid-Atlantic, more rain and bodies have finally washed up from the Air France disaster (does that mean we know where the plane went down or did the bodies float? Inquiring minds want to know.. ya know?)
My 17 year old daughter explained in detail how Carradine died with some help from her older brother. I am wondering if they found lemon rinds? Okay, I am digressing but someone in Greece my brother Jay is viciously googling lemon rinds on this one ;)
So............back to the world of tropical weather... the NHC has given the Carib a yellow circle...
Earthquake...Can you feel it? The plates just moved a little bit with this one. Whispers Pangea in the middle of the night during a deafening thunderstorm...
I was talking about that fault like this afternoon, strange feeling to go online and see in the news that it was shaking today.
You watching the radar? Satellite Imagery? Seismographs? Porn? Come on.. everyone's watching something in this great new electronic age we live in... Tweeter, Facebook...pick your poison, find your passion...
As for me... am listening to the rain fall, watching the loops... gonna take a walk with my guy if it ever stops raining or will just lie here in bed listening to the rain fall and the distant sound of thunder.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhww5f4CdfA
TWC finally found it's twister and there is some great imagery of the core ..online, wow..
Reed Timmer is a cool guy, spoken with him... very into weather. Great video that team got on this one..ya got to me a little nuts but well... we all are a little nuts about something aren't we? I got a daughter whose into Twilight and can watch that about as often as I can Twister... so pick your passion.. pick your movie for this rainy Saturday night in Miami and hope that the continents don't want to shake, rattle and roll some more as they already have quite often in history.
http://www.tornadovideos.net/
In Miami tonight...the rain is coming down tonight... repairs are going on at the Fountain Blue where a chunk of the ceiling came down in yesterday's storm, the Eden Roc is cleaning up and have friends all around Mid-Beach who are watching the waters recede. My friend's backyard filled with kiddie toys was flooded, her Little Tykes See Saw floated out of her yard and down the block like a plastic sailboat caught on a strong southerly breeze. She lives about 3 blocks from the Fountainblue. Love to know if there was a waterspout there or any rotation signatures on radar.\
Great images...we are not exaggerating down here.. Friday was one heck of a storm even if it had no name other than... "Afternoon Thunderstorm.." Was centered about where I used to live and near where I work.. imagine the back by James Avenue was a mess... wild rains.
Oops... wrong link ;) (private joke lol) (great lyrics)
Oh Lord.... am going off, am going to go make coffee and spike it and listen to the rain or watch a movie or something...
What are you going to do I wonder? What are we all doing?
I'm going to wonder on weird things like astrocartography and how a quake in the Atlantic and the approaching hurricane season and the Air France disaster and... what will the Cape Verde Season bring.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8087303.stm
Seems to be a real focal point this year and please note that the area around the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico has been active for some time...some of us watch more than one thing at the same time as we multi-task our way through weather, news and geology!!
Hey Jay.. love you brother... love to all my friends... especially one as I listen to the rain fall and get the feeling South Florida is melting..in the rain...all the Key Lime Icing Flowing down..and someone left the cake out ..in the rain...
chow for now... Bobbi..who tells the truth if only a bit cryptically :) lol ;)
Tropical Rains Today --- Tropical Storm Next Week? Models showing development in the Carib
Well...today the rains came in Miami. Yes, it has rained every day but not like this... was wild. On the way home I was talking with a friend about whether they would get in the pool or not this afternoon... don't think they made it. And, was thinking on those wild, old fashioned electrical storms of the years past.
A few hours later...wham, bam, thank you maam... the heavens let lose... flooding rain, electrical storm so strong I unplugged a TV.. and stood on my porch staring up at skies so dark it looked like it was night. A friend on Miami Beach facebooked me that she was getting the largest hail she had seen in a long time. Alton Road is flooded all along South Beach. Locally flooded streets here too.
Nice trof that shook up the atmosphere here. Course it does keep hurricanes away for a few days but then if it lingers, adds to the moisture anything forming in the Carib will ride the frontal boundary north won't it? That's way too simple an explanation but early June storms are much like October storms..they come up from the Caribbean.
The models are squawking storm formation next week. Something begins to form in the Carib south of Cuba and then moves slowly north... across Cuba, probably into the Bahamas but seeing as it hasn't formed it's hard to say for certain where it is going ..once it forms.
So...keep watching...and stay dry if you live in the South Florida area because we are getting one hell of a rainy season..which I personally believe leads us to an October Hurricane. Will see...
In the news of the weird on the local scene.. body parts keep floating up and making their way onshore. I saw one siting .. my brother a few hours saw the police staring at another. If you live on South Beach tonight.. you might want to stay out of the water... hate to think some body part could float up onto the Venetian Causeway and land in someone's backyard. Heard the Venetian was flooded... badly. When the waters recede... careful what you pick up if it's in a black, garbage bag.
So... you heard it here... possible Carib storm next week.. possible.
The storm today in Miami was the strongest I remember since a Tropical Storm was here most recently... wild storm. Crazy lightning... wild thunder...
As for me.. going off..here's some links and you might want to check out my friend's site..it's awesome, you want a degree in meteorology but can't afford the college tuition... learn everything there is to know about hurricanes and models and winds that go whoosh in the night and wake up your imagination and take you to places you might never go otherwise. Let Chris know I sent you and thank him for all the help he puts in at Hurricane City with the new Canetalk Message Board.
http://tropicalatlantic.com/
Besos Bobbi... enjoy the song from one of the best...
Carib storm..one of several models jumping on the June Express..
NHC--- To Line or Not to Line... That is the Question
Trackers debate this question all the time. Families argue over it ...
People go online or put on their favorite weather person and there is THE MAP, with THE CONE and THE LINE down the middle. And, they tell you "do not focus on the line" but it's the biggest, brightest pink elephant in the room in the middle of the cone staring back at you and running about 100 miles north of where you live on the five day cone. You are in the five day cone for the 4th day. Do you look at the line or not?
New scenario...same as above..the LINE runs right through your town as if the finish line for the Boston Marathon is in the middle of your townhouse... do you watch the line or say.."well it's a big cone.."
Roy sits at home with Velma who is freaking cause the line goes over Grandma Mary's house ... Roy says, "just look the cone not the line!!"
Velma, replies... "they put the line there for a reason and it's over my home town what the hell is wrong with you?"
Roy replies... "Just look at the cone!"
Velma replies, "You can shove that cone up your... " well you get the idea here..Roy and Velma will not be sharing ice cream cones or a night at the opera anytime soon all because the NHC put up a line in the middle of the cone and then said, "do not focus on the line!"
Seems they are thinking on taking off the line or at least giving you an option.
Either way... anyone can connect the dots from the forecasted points and connect the dots.
Still...I like it. I think it's a good idea. Just my thoughts.
Got to go to go work...enjoy the tune and ... I say... just go with the cone.
Course.. I like to lick ice cream cones ;)
Besos Bobbi Bonus PS... possible development in the Bahamas this weekend and out to sea like the last TD... if the Canadian model is true... love the Canadian ;)
As word spread of yesterday's loss of an Air France flight over the Atlantic discussion has run rampant across Facebook, Weather sites online and twitter as to what really happened that could bring down such a plane in mid-flight. Everyone's talking and yet no one has any real answers.
Why? Because the wreckage is most likely at the bottom of the sea in Davy Jones locker. Until wreckage or voice boxes are found... we can only speculate.
I know a kid who wants to be a forensic meteorologist. He's into recreating disasters and figuring out the weather angle. Here's a link he sent which was one of many...
http://www.weathergraphics.com/tim/af447/
Good site.... saw a few yesterday as all the Jacques and Jills tried to put together an answer for how a plane fell out of the sky and no one noticed until it was gone with only an automatically sent signal as the clue.
Sounds like a job for Stephen King or some mystery weather lover who could write a weather novel where all the players die sad, tragic deaths including a prince of the royal family of Brazil and what does my friend say.. "dead floating babies" lost at sea. Sorry, we weather people can be quite macabre at times.
Anyway...the season has started. I went to my brother's house last night for a kick off party after listening to Jim Williams do his kick off show with Jim Leonard on as a guest. Weather people like football, did you know most jocks in high school were weather freaks?? Really..and surfers.. My sister-in-law made a cake because she says the years she made a cake "we" didn't get hit so she figures her chocolate hurricane cake will ward off any possible Bills or Freds or Idas from crashing into her life this September. Personally... I'll take hurricanes any day over tornadoes or earthquakes or most natural disasters. They are the only ones you can prepare for and have even the smallest semblance of control over ..or as I like to say the illusion of control. But, hey... I like a little illusion in my life personally.
My sister in law smiling thinking this cake is going to ward off hurricanes making landfall in Miami!!
My brother thinking just the opposite...
Great cake! Great Hurricanes (the drinks..) yum, yum and talked about life, love and weather as my very weather involved family toasted the start of the 2009 Hurricane Season.
Yes... people die in hurricanes... but they also die crossing the street, having routine surgery and going off to Paris for a vacation they may have waited their entire lives for and never got to enjoy because something went bump in the night in the middle of the tropical convergence zone.
Personally... I think 2009 is going to be one bad year hurricane wise... out of the ordinary storms, tragic endings and everyone will in the end be surprised that it didn't follow the game plan. Just my thoughts. Mexico, South Florida maybe...Carolinas, Gulf Coast at risk with cold fronts still players on the weather maps.
Besos... Bobbi's got to go to work... Great show last night ..one of the best.
Here's to you Jim and stay safe, stay healthy and stay prepared this year and always.. Bobbi... shout out to Chris for the work he has done on the CaneTalk message board!
Location: Miami, Raleigh, Crown Heights, Florida, United States
Weather Historian. Studied meteorology and geography at FIU. Been quoted in Wall Street Journal, Washington Post & everywhere else... Lecturer, stormchaser, writer, dancer. If it's tropical it's topical ... covering the weather & musing on life. Follow me on Twitter @ https://twitter.com/#!/BobbiStorm
