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!
Thursday, February 25, 2021
So Much Rain... Winter Rain.... Winter Flooding. What Will Happen When the Snow Melts? Spring Flooding... Then Comes Hurricane Season. Not a Good Set Up!
Winter 2021 Traces Places Hit By Hurricanes in 2020 ----- Baby It's Cold Outside - Snow Covers Much of the USA - Next Winter Storm Up at Bat. Baseball Seems Far Away.
2021 seems to be tracing events from 2020.
Ocean Isle Beach where ISAIAS made landfall....
... was hit by a high end EF3 Tornado.
Link below.
It's just really heartbreaking to see one of the most beautiful areas of North Carolina still cleaning up from a hurricane traumatized by a tornado. What are the chances a place gets hit by two weather disasters that close together? Apparently this year not that unusual as both North Carolina, Texas, Louisiana and Northern Florida pounded by various types of tropical weather in the 2020 Hurricane Season has been pounded by various types of winter weather and severe weather this Winter of 2020 and 2021... and the beat goes on and on.
In my last post I raised the concern for nighttime tornadoes in North Carolina this time of year that are especially deadly, seemingly coming out of nowhere and doing more damage than a hurricane with way less warning. I'll say it again and again... I'll take a hurricane over a tornado any time as you can see them coming as a real entity, whereas a EF3 can spin up suddenly in a line of severe weather with NO TORNADO WATCH posted by the NWS just your run of the mill severe weather warning put out. I know this bugs the hell out of Mike and he has ranted about it many times on his Facebook Live as frequently areas of Central Florida are slammed by numerous tornadoes without a watch even posted. I'm not sure why the NWS has pulled back on the watches as I remember them more years back, but I'd rather have a watch posted than none and be blind sided by a EF3. If I can see the environment is ripe for night time tornadoes, in my humble opinion, a Tornado Watch could have been posted. I was especially worried when I saw the severe thunderstorm line come through my area a few hours earlier than expected as Raleigh was supposed to have it come through around 1AM to 3AM and the tornado hit just before Midnight way down by the South Carolina as it cruised through with a punch rarely seen in that area by anything other than a strong landfalling hurricane and everyone there said it was way worse than your regular NC hurricane. My brother in Greece sent me this tweet yesterday that I had missed, the same area of Southwestern Louisiana had Thundersnow and Thundersleet six months after hosting Hurricane Laura that made landfall in that same area. I'm beginning to see a pattern here... how bout you?
Speaking of patterns my brother in Thessaloniki had a winter storm the other day and often when he gets winter weather I do in the Carolinas..I'm not sure what the connection is but I've noticed it so possibly this new winter storm will shower us with sleet or freezing rain creating an Icy mess for many in our state though how far South it will go is up for debate as models are trending deeper down across the State and I've suddenly heard the Sandhills could get a drop of freezing rain which yesterday was said about my neck of the woods up in Raleigh so stay tuned... As always weather happens in real time, stay prepared in case you lose power the way many in Texas and a good part of the Central South did earlier in the week and many still do not have power. I know people tell me I don't want an Ice Storm (lived here long enough to have had a few mild ones so I'm familiar with them) but after growing up in Florida and losing power for over a week in late summer with no air movement and 89 degrees every day I'd rather have cold weather and bundle up in layers if I had to lose power... never a great situation and those who prepared are better off so remember that during Winter or Hurricane Season always be prepared.
A few days of warm ups and then "Bamn, Baby I'm back... BRRRR"
I do watch patterns though and I've noted how many times Texas has been hit and how deep the fronts have driven down deep into South Florida so despite the constant training of weather over Louisiana still this winter, this hurricane season could bring more trouble to Texas and parts of Florida than the 2020 Hurricane Season did. You know the old song "second verse, same as the first" a really good song sung by Peter Noone that rhymes with the town of Boone in North Carolina!
So as always be prepared and I do mean that. I have a box all year that I regularly borrow from and replace that has long lasting candles, matches, canned Starbucks Espresso (after Hurricane Andrew I will never ever not include canned coffee in my hurricane supplies), easy to open Tuna, crackers and lots of stuff like that stored around the house because be it winter or hurricane season if the power goes out it's important to have good stuff you need along with all that nosh you keep in the house in case you lose power. Cookies are good but they only go so far it's good to have some protein and caffeine stored away as they give you energy...you know like batteries for a radio ... because when the power goes out .... so does the cable. Keep phones fully powered and hopefully power stays on and everything looks like a winter wonderland. But after days of frigid weather in Texas, people in the Houston area would like the Polar Vortex of 2021 to hit the road Jack and go somewhere else!
Winter Patterns Become Early Spring Severe Weather Patterns ...That Can Show Us Developing Hurricane Season Patterns.
Is that a wild water vapor image?
Not very tropical but very kinky.
You can see the dips and swirls....
And frontal boundaries kicking up the weather.
No it's not snowing in Raleigh, but the good news is it's not raining for the first time since I can't remember. There is rain in the forecast, but we have cold weather and gray skies... sounds like a nice day to take a winter walk when the air quality is super clean and the sky is visible through the naked trees. I do so love naked trees, they each have their own form and shape and arrangement of branches even if you see a stand of the same trees they are all unique in some way due to their own life experience... kind of like people. But this water vapor image above really stole my attention and rearranged my imagination this morning.
Adore him.
He really really really gets it.
Understanding weather like that is instinctive.
In the gut, hard to explain ... a knowing.
I sent it to Dabuh who of course made weather art with it including words and music so I've done by good deed for the day. Note he's done his so someone give him a huge bonus please - he truly deserves it!
That's my grandson in Monsey NY
Yes it's winter and yes Texas feels like Wyoming and my daughter in Monsey let her 5 year old son dig through the snow to see if his "freeze pops could be found and if they froze" He found them, no they didn't and so he covered them up again with snow. Seems there's a budding scientist there.... In Raleigh I refuse to even look at a weather forecast promising me a few flakes with my rain because let me explain how this works....the rain melts whatever flakes were in there and there's more coconut flakes in my granola than I saw in our wintry weather episode. I don't think Winter is over, I think it's going to take a bit of a vacation while deep down in the South we suddenly see a spate of severe weather and then add in some early March Madness I'm guessing of the meteorological mind and unless I take a trip somewhere soon I'm not seeing snow. But always amused online and busy with a mind that never rests so will talk on the tropics when it's more tropical.
They were slushy not frozen?
How is that even possible?
I miss them.
I digress.
I'm concerned on Spring Weather coming early.
Sneaking in between cold fronts.
Surprising people with "what the heck was that!!?"
Winter Weather Warning But Mostly Rain. Snow in Seattle. Snow in Texas. Winter's Worst Storms Come at the End of Winter Often.. Same as Hurricane Season, Before the Flip...
As I sit in Raleigh watching the radar tell me it's snowing I stare outside and only see a misty rain. I go out on the balcony, put my hand out and feel the little drops and well if it's snowing it's melting on it's way down but I really shouldn't complain because it's winter and it's naturally air conditioned air and we will see what happens this coming week as one system after another is forecast to slide by flirting with Raleigh but not stopping for a cup of coffee and chocolate chip cookies. Sometimes I see a flake fall as if they are playing peek a boo with me.
What a morning drive......
....way better than San Francisco.
Hills and dips and water and mountains.
Seattle really has it all.
But I'm in Raleigh today.
My son in Seattle sent me pictures last night of the snow beginning to fall on his backyard and a year ago I was literally in Seattle missing snow in Raleigh, but I saw snow on the mountains and love Seattle weatherwise and otherwise so that was good. My daughter-in-law who spent a good part of her life in Postville Iowa does not like snow so hoping she's hiding away in her office listening to music with her headphones on as she often does when she wants to block the world out.
Today is the first day of the Hebrew month of Adar, which means Spring is around the corner but not before Winter takes a few last shots and reminds us it's not over til Mother Nature says it's over. The Hebrew Calendar goes by a lunar cycle and every once in a while we have a random leap month (yes I said a leap month not a leap day) so I'm watching the parade of time listening to and watching videos from an outdoor wedding in Hollywood Florida last night. If you are going to do an outdoor wedding in Florida as if you are in California then February is the month to gamble on no rain falling on your parade and it looked all enchanted and bouncy and happy. Life goes on during the Pandemic as people meet, get married or just decide it's time to make a commitment and celebrate life. Celebrating life is good.
In 2 weeks we have the Jewish Holiday of Purim which is a happy festival where usually people have parties and dance and there's lost of booze and music and well last year's parties at the very beginning of the Pandemic intrusion is what kicked off the waves of illness and death that gripped our news feed in the same way that Mardi Gras was not kind to New Orleans last year. Yes, those equinox holidays such as St. Patricks's Day that slide by in late February and early March as Spring is just around the corner.
It's called the March of Time.
Musically or weather wise.
But what's important to remember is......
Ready???
i in the suThere's something about the clash of the seasons that brings out the wildest weather. Deep into any particular season when people begin to make lists on what to plant in the Spring or where they will go swimming in their new bikinmmer Mother Nature pulls the rug out from underneath their summer dreams and slaps them with snow and ice. In Texas a pile up of over 130 cars on an elevated freeway made for a sad deadly disaster.
The worst storms always come this time of year.
Be it Hurricane Season about to end....
...or late into the Winter.
It's not over til it's over.
It won't begin until it begins.
Note the second front behind this one...
.. moving West to East across the USA.
My brother in Greece got snow.
Yes, I am keeping track!
We had a thunderstorm yesterday....
...count ten days til snow?
So take it day by day.
Yes I am watching loops ....
...but mostly just taking it one day at a time.
My older kids have a close friend.
Like family....got married at sunset outdoors.
Under the huge oak trees, beneath the stars coming out.
I'm liking these outdoor weddings....
...where you can watch online.
I was invited to one yesterday...
..virtual zoom code ;) to join the party!
So woke up to music from the wedding
(song below)
And it made me smile.
Because eventually life does go on..
...just a bit differently!
Today begins my Hebrew anniversary, Tuesday is Fat Tuesday so party hardy but safely, Monday is President's Day so take your choice of holidays to commemorate or ignore. The year I got married it was actually Fat Tuesday because I've never been known to ignore a holiday I enjoyed so I'll dig out my love beads, bake a cake or buy one and I'll keep watching the weather. Day by day we inch closer to Spring and then Severe Weather Season and Hurricane Season. This is the way weather people tell time, but the seasons that bring us the weather we follow, enjoy and never ignore.
Besos BobbiStorm
@bobbistorm on Twitter and Instagram.
Ps.... this is the song of my hour, love this song and it's a good video.... as two incredible singers come together to joyously sing about God the King. If you aren't into religion, just enjoy the music as it has a great beat and kids dance to it at weddings and I've been known to dance to it in the kitchen while cooking.
Winter 2021 Showed Up Late and Doesn't Want to Leave. Will Snowed in Areas Get More Snow This Week? Possibly, it's Cold and Not Melting Much.
Snow Storms Abound....
...but not around here.
Weather is always locational and seen from the perspective of your own location's weather. If South Florida didn't get a real hurricane in 2020 it was not a memorable busy hurricane season, yet if you lived in Louisiana it's a hurricane season you will never forget. In parts of New Jersey, New York and New England this last snowstorm was memorable indeed. There were other big bad snow storms in those areas but over the last few years snow storms haven't been all the rage. Check out the one below from way back when and if you have a relative that was in that area ... ask them which snow storms they remember. Gotta love old news reels... and you thought the media hypes the news now?
For me one of my biggest problems, other than I'm not getting one, is that the models are iffy on what will be coming down the pike but in some areas up there the temperatures are not climbing much and it will look as if they just had a snow storm for days going into weeks as the Polar Vortex seems to be trying to make an appearance this winter finally. Last year it snowed in Raleigh when I was in Seattle in February, this year has been much like last year so I'm wondering if there is any frozen precipitation in my future here. Do I really need to move to assure myself of at least one winter storm every year? In truth we did have snow but it mostly fell at night and melted by noon... and that's why so many Northerners are moving to this area because they get the seasons and a taste of winter but it melts faster than the Wicked Witch in Oz after water was tossed on her.
This post really is about what it is to have kids up north who call you and turn their phone cam around to show me their mother the snow falling on wide suburban streets in Brooklyn, grateful for that beautiful view in real time from Shayna's phone. Yes, Brooklyn in some parts of Flatbush is very suburban. My daughter Dina though is at the epicenter of the snow storm in upstate New York as they had way over 24 inches... closer to 3 feet depending on snow drifts and the snow drifted often as the wind was blowing it everywhere. My Grandson finally escaped the house... okay she let him help try and dig out the driveway or a path to the street where the school bus comes in the morning. Yes, school buses run up there in winter storms as historically it's snowy in the winter; my husband took his skis to school with him in his teens so he could ski after school...tho he did live further up the road but Monsey looks like a Winter Wonderland these days.
Really very sweet of him to stop and help!
So this is dedicated to the kind soul...
... and my daughter who said.
"Do something good for a stranger..."
And then.......my grandson who loves snow.
Got to make a snow angel!
So ya....
Enjoy the weather, live in the moment.
Give thanks to people who do a good deed.
Pay it forward.
Will it snow again this coming week?
Probably, there's a pattern setting up.
And the Groundhog says 6 more weeks of winter!
Besos BobbiStorm
@bobbistorm on Twitter and Instagram.
Dina is on Instagram.
She's an Artist..
..she makes art out of everything!
Her work is in stores up that way...
..and she has done shows before Covid.
She's creating her way through 2021...
She even does special requests.
This is reclaimed wood by the way...
..she cuts it herself.
It's very "green art" ;)
Yes, those are bullet casings in epoxy.
A girl ordered one for her boyfriend.
Dina made an ashtray with drill bits also.
What would you want in epoxy?
When God gives you talent... use it.
@DinaDeeDesign on Instagram.
(tell her I sent you.. haha.. no don't)
Enjoy the song...
...use it as a motto.
She makes custom food tray boards...
.. they also make nice window art :)
She paints... she creates.
She plowed, they plowed... in the beginning it's a game and after a while it's not a fun game. But hey ya gotta do what ya gotta do so she plowed. Then a person who said they were a neighbor around the corner who didn't know her stopped and offered to plow with his big shovel on his truck because they do that up there also... now I get why they drive around with the big shovel in the winter looking all that and well those who have the shovel on their truck can get in and out of their driveways. They can also help others or offer to charge people $150 to dig them out which seems high considering they simply drive up and back up but hey it's a capitalist world and somewhere there is always an opportunity to make money be it using a buzz saw to take down the tree that's laying across your front door after a hurricane or dig you out in a snow storm. Weather always provides money opportunities though it takes a big bite out of the economy as well when people can't go out to work or shop.
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
