2018 Earthquake.. 7.0 Alaska - Storms in the South - Wicked Weather & Winter Here to Stay as the Hurricane Season Slips Away.

Today I was planning on writing a blog on the end of the 2018 Hurricane Season but life as it is ...is always happening and one news story replaces another as soon as we find out that there was a 7.0 earthquake in Alaska that caused cracks on huge highways and there is currently a tsunami alert for one area though there is a concern in other areas nearby.

This video shows what happens in the aftermath of such an earthquake when you find a safe space (under a desk is good) and you try to call or text your loved ones to let them know you are safe but scared. As I type this the tsunami alert has been dropped which is good news, however news has come out there there are fires (gas lines break) and the infrastructure is messed up making it hard to even drive home as roads have collapsed or have huge cracks in them. When I lived in LA for years in the 1980s my biggest fear of "the big one" was how I'd get home to my kids and family as I worked close to downtown in the Wilshire District. A relatively short drive on a regular day would be horrendous if the Big One LA is always waiting for happened.

Nothing illustrates how Mother Nature makes news more relevant than a 7.0 Earthquake that will most likely be knocked down to six point something but I'm going with the 7.0 as that is likely how it was originally rated. We can go back and review things after all is said and done and the actual facts come to the surface. For now prayers go out to people there and hoping there were no deaths but we won't know for some time. That region has earthquake drills and they build homes to withstand earthquakes however depending on the soil the homes are built on damage varies. Hard rock doesn't move as much as area where the ground has either been filled in or is closer to river basin ... each area feels the quake differently. When ever I hear about earthquakes and Alaska I remember as a small girl they broke into the  news to talk about the 1964 earthquake and tsunami. It seemed so much bigger than life, bigger than hurricanes that I was used to and yet so far away. Still I stood mesmerized as they received video of the area and I remember thinking then and I still think that way now ... I'd rather have a hurricane if you have to have a "natural disaster" as you can prepare for them, hunker down or flee to safety yet when the ground shakes, rattles and rolls you have to roll with the situation and try to remember what you have learned during Earthquake Safety Drills.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1964_Alaska_earthquake

This is a smaller earthquake but strong enough to knock ongoing politics off the air and have all three major cable channels go to live coverage. I preferred when news stations covered news vs politics all day long and generally I love politics but it's one reason I leave TWC on while working in the house. The Weather Channel broke in with news of the Earthquake. In college in journalism class you had to rate stories as to which ones were more relevant to cover or for a headline. The Hurricane Season of 2018 is in the books and despite all the early dramatic discussion on how mild and weak it would be because of a cool pool of water in the Mid Atlantic ... Mother Nature as always finds a way. Florence found her way across the Atlantic despite dramatic headlines writing her off as a "Fish Storm" and Michael formed and continued to march towards the Gulf Coast as models said he would though many didn't believe it would actually be that bad. Spoiler alert as we know.... it was that bad and worse. Pictures don't do it justice and I may write about that on Sunday but I'm limited on time today. What I was going to say today was that the part of the country that is used to having Spring Tornado Outbreaks was deprived of their season this Spring as tornadoes continued to show up at high latitudes and the Plains were quiet. Now the Plains are busy in the Fall as warm, moist weather from the Gulf of Mexico is racing up towards the Southern Jet enhanced by El Nino creating a clash of the seasons.

Put this in motion and the convection in the GOM...

Watch in real time as they meet up.

It's not going to be pretty.

You can see this on the loop below.

It's a forecast loop.

Winter is on the move.
Models spit out winter storms....
...then models moderate that forecast.
Winter is here to stay.

This pattern will repeat all year.
Storm, snow or rain, then warms up...
...then a new storm system moves in.
Sometimes the Polar Vortex gets a vote.

In my part of the world I'm cooking.
I baked challah for Shabbos.
I decorated the house for Chanukah.
I'm watching very long range models...
..and reacting with enough salt to eat pretzels.

In the same way that after shocks will continue...
...fronts will continue.
Winter will continue.

We may be still playing football....
...but it feels like we should be making snow angels.

Stay safe....
...have a wonderful weekend.

Yeah.... I'll take a hurricane anyday.
But you can't always get what you wish for...
...doesn't mean you can't keep wishing.

I'm wishing for Snow...

Just a little snow on chanukah and I'll smile.

Besos BobbiStorm
@bobbistorm on Twitter

Ps... For some friends who love Carole King
Sorry for any typos... small cut on finger from cooking.
Well from cutting a log of frozen gefilte fish in half..
I'm good, just bandaid makes typing difficult :(