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!

Tuesday, January 28, 2020

7.7 Earthquake in Caribbean! Winter Weather Promises Broken as Winter Forecasts Went Bad.... Thoughts on Kobe and Fog and Life.

7.7 Earthquake in Caribbean.
Between Jamaica and Cuba.
Felt in Miami.
Yet... no coverage at all by CNN or FOX?
As Impeachment was on a "break"
You'd think they'd BREAK IN for a 7.7 Quake?
And that's why we have Twitter I suppose.





This is a developing story.
Imagine the local news in Florida will cover it.
And aftershocks obviously expected.
Possible Tsunami Concerns.
Sometimes Aftershocks can be as big or bigger.
If you have loved ones near this region.
Hope they are safe...
7.7 is huge.

Note in Miami buildings were evacuated.
I have friends in tall buildings in downtown Miami.
They definitely felt it there.
That has to be freaky because....
...in California you go "oh an Earthquake"
But in Miami when a building moves...
... your mind goes bad places.


The rest of the blog is about the lack of winter.
And how FOG in LA made news sadly...
...with the death of an Icon and 8 others.

As always I'm watching the Water Vapor Loop.
Well unless my friend texts me on a 7.7 Earthquake...


No apologies.
I am who I am.
I'm a Tropical Weather Person 1st!
Before I wish on winter weather...
...I'm tropically obsessed.
And I love the Water Vapor Loop!




I promised a blog today so here it is... a kind of catch up blog with many thoughts. Generally I'll be blogging more regularly now as for now things are somewhat back to normal in my life.

Okay, I'm being honest here.... it's been a beautiful winter in Raleigh North Carolina in that it's been cool and beautiful, not hot all year round and not one of those years when the city shuts down because of some snow and they don't send snow plows out and the salting didn't work because it rained first and we didn't get any of those sandwich winter storms of sleet, snow, sleet then lastly snow so when you walk outside your snow boots sink down after the initial "crunching" sound and your illusion of 5 inches of snow is really snow on top of lasagna layers of sleet and snow. And if you think I'm complaining on that ... yeah as for the next few days ice usually forms on top of the sleet covered snow that's not melting because it's cold and cloudy and school is cancelled for a week and all across America people make fun of people in Raleigh that can't drive in the snow... because they are clueless what it's like when it snows here after rain and the hilly road immediately freezes into a slope that could be used for a bobsled race in the Winter Olympics.


Really those pictures did need a Soundtrack...
...it's a very steep hill that froze immediately!
After 3 minutes of snow.... 


So no I am not being a Debbie Downer on our Winter Weather this year but I did decide early on that the "models" and the "forecasts" for Winter 2020 were grossly off target and it's going to be a repeat of last year that featured no real snow. Okay, we had a drop in November way too early then nothing, nada, nothing the rest of the winter. I'm not going to go maniac over every snow flake on the 9th day in my phone App showing me "maybe some mixed wintry weather" when I know how this is going to go. Until I see the change happening......we are in a similar pattern as we had in the hurricane season. Wet and rainy along the Gulf of Mexico, Texas gets storms of various kinds... a low forms in the Gulf of Mexico and often crosses Florida and reforms off the Carolinas. Then said storm flirts with the coast of Carolinas sending illusions of snow often discounted as graupel which is really like sleet but for some reason we have to show how academically smart we are with meteorological terms and call it Graupel. See definition below from Google.


Graupel (/ˈɡraʊpəl/; German: [ˈɡʁaʊpl̩]) also called soft hail or snow pellets, is precipitation that forms when supercooled water droplets are collected and freeze on falling snowflakes, forming 2–5 mm (0.08–0.20 in) balls of rime. The term graupel is the German language word for sleet.

Yeah right.
I'm not going to play this game this year.
Either it snows or we get "graupel"
...or Spring comes early.
I've lived most of my life without snow.
I can make it through another Raleigh winter this way.
And if by chance snow surprises us... 
I'll be really excited!

If it snows when I'm in Seattle in February.
Oh well....
I'll be in Seattle ;)
I love Seattle.
Life will go on without me crying over missed snow.
(maybe it will snow in Seattle ..wink wink)

When I want to know the truth in NC
I go to 1 of the best local sources.


When Allan Huffman talks on snow I pay attention.
Even if he says a "flake" I smile.
You can take him to the bank.
He doesn't sensationalize.

Then again a few days earlier.
He pointed out the irony of snow forecasting.
The Great Raleigh Snow Storm of 2000
A forecast for "flurries" verified...
...an overachieving storm it was.
Totally shut down the city.
Way before my time here.


Okay I do read DaBuh every morning.
He's always got something to say :)


He's got great instincts ...
... and a way with words and music!

And  yes I have looked at the models.
I spend a lot of time on www.windy.com
Many other good sites but fun to play there.
Interactive, move around a bit.


Again look at that system in the Pacific.
Up close...staring at NC:





Yeah yeah... the Gulf of Mexico is busy...
in the Winter.
Pretty sure we see early season development.
As this trend continues weather wise.



Check out that system there right top pic.
Flow of moisture from ....
...yet our front is "moisture deprived"
Hmnnn

When I see snow in my forecast HERE...
...not on the 8th day of my phone App
Then I'll believe it!
(maybe)

The story of our time is weather related.
Kobe Bryant.
The helicopter he was traveling in crashed.
His beautiful 13 year old daughter on board.
All 9 souls on board died.



The moment I looked up in the Sushi restaurant with my daughter at the screen with Breaking News and saw how foggy it was during the search and rescue I thought immediately of the pictures of the fog from the night before that @icyclone posted on Twitter and I knew deep down inside somehow this was related to that fog. And after living close to a decade in the LA area I know how fast fog can move in ...especially along the coast. 

Unless you have lived there you really can't imagine ... well unless you have lived in London. One Saturday I was sitting in the living room where we were staying for the weekend and people had been setting up a huge buffet for lunch for after services at Chabad of Santa Monica in the backyard a few feet from the house. We did that in LA... ate outside never expecting rain. Suddenly despite the fact that it had been a sunny, beautiful LA day I noticed people racing to take apart the buffet table set up and bringing it inside to set up inside. I asked why and someone said nervously while looking outside as the blue sky disappeared "the fog" and I said "sooo??" as coming from Florida "fog" is kind of cool and rare and they added very nervously "the fog is MOVING IN...." and in the time it took to have that brief conversation I saw what looked like a cloud, suddenly in the backyard, obscuring the little building behind the house that was the Synagogue and definitely blocking out the view of even the table that minutes before had been set for a Queen.... being rearranged indoors. All I could think of is "that's fog? It's a massive cloud... that's not real" and I have to tell you we spent the whole day and night and next morning socked in by a cloud of fog that looked surreal in the glow of the streetlight outside the window ... the buildings across the street obscured from view... shadowy, impossible to make out what the signs on the building said. And I wondered...is that what it's like in London when they say it's "think like pea soup" and again the FOG itself had taken on a persona... a personality ... it wasn't just "fog" but something out of a horror movie; except being a weather person it was exciting for me as it was my first real experience with "THE FOG" in what's often Sunny California.

That FOG moved in fast this past Sunday in Calabasas. The pilot was said to be climbing above a "cloud bank" when he slammed into a mountain side killing all aboard including the man who was an Icon and a mentor to many who loved him. I always loved Calabasas as we'd drive around there often sometimes on our way down to Malibu as my in-laws lived in Northridge and we'd take long Sunday drives often when the weather was nice and we were in the mood. I always loved the way the shadows would fall as you drove through the hills of Calabasas a place now popular for the homes of movie stars and now remembered as the place where Kobe Bryant died. That's sad.

My brother in Greece mentioned it being foggy recently... the same day it had been foggy in Raleigh and my brother in Miami posted pics on Twitter today of the fog in Miami, but the fog in Miami is never as thick as it is when it "moves in fast" in California.


Amazing how fog has been such an issue there year.
In Miami... in Raleigh... in Calabasas.

So yeah that's it from me today.
I'll be more regular this week and next.
Shorter blogs.
Less catching up and random thoughts.

My daughter who graduated from NC State was here.
Fun doing fun things with her....
She's back in Miami.
Stopping every time she sees a dog to pet it.
Really... 
:)
(because I raised her right she asks the owner first!)
:)

Very sad story on Kobe and the other 8 people who died.

Sad for snow lovers in Raleigh this year.

But I'm enjoying the beautiful blue skies.
The cool air as if it's air conditioned inside !!
The chance that it could snow maybe a flake LOL.
And well weather is what it is...
... climate is long term.
Climatology will say there's a chance.

Only time will tell.

Inspirational Icons are good.
Choose wisely.
Hopefully one day you too
 will be an Icon to someone.

Live your life to the fullest.
Do good.
Be happy.
Enjoy the weather you have....
.... see the silver lining.
And careful what you wish for...

Besos BobbiStorm
@bobbistorm on Twitter and Instagram.
Twitter = mostly weather
Instagram = weather, make up, random life pictures..

Ps.......

 I'm going to leave you with this great Tweet by Cranky ... if you are going to bug him for a "sound track" note he will give you one ........but it might not be the one you wanted. For me it was a real blast from the past so I'm smiling.


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posted by BobbiStorm @ 8:20 AM

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