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, March 30, 2023
Tornado Outbreak & Severe Weather Friday/Saturday! It's Just a Matter of Time... Then Hurricane Season. Use This Time Wisely....
For most of us living on the East Coast or even along the Gulf of Mexico we tend to look at the world from the wrong perspective.... especially during this time of year. This feed of moisture comes in from the Pacific, crosses Mexico and pulls UP towards Texas, the Mississippi Valley and the Deep South varying on a few different influences that will tell the tale of who gets the most severe weather on any given day. The image below shows you that Winter is still holding on Out West and in the Northern regions. The in between regions where warm, moist air on the move slams into cooler descending air creates severe weather in the Spring. Especially when this set up is in place directing waves of severe weather every several days into two areas extremely prone to dangerous tornadoes in April. And, again April is only 2 days away and no this is not an Aprils Fools Joke.
Here we see a double pronged threat for severe weather.
Later this week, going into the weekend.
Above is a tweet for Des Moines, chosen randomly.
If you are on Twitter you know every chaser around is out there getting ready as every National Weather Service in the warned area is trying to warn people of the potential for dangerous weather. Every weather person on TV is talking away at the possibilities as APPs are showing the problem. And, yet someone, somewhere will say they didn't see this coming. Or the last time it was warned there would be a problem nothing happened in their area and they decided they no longer trust the weather people. Big mistake!
If you live in the warned area please pay attention to the dangers possible and watch in real time.
As for those in Miami and South Florida they are dealing with rain that looks tropical, but isn't. It's simply the tail end of a frontal boundary and extreme high temperatures making everyone jittery that the May Monsoons are beginning in March. While they are not, they may start ealier in late April if the trend continues.
From Phil Ferro on WSVN and Twitter.
Mother Nature working over time everywhere!
South Florida at the Western edge of the front.
Later in May we get early storms from this set up.
Will the pattern linger?
The front tickles the already juiced up atmosphwere.
BOOM! The sky turns black and it pours.
Miami is tropical always!
Dabuh posted this the other day.
It explains well why we watch patterns.
Patterns take time to form in real time.
And, oh look a way too early wave off Africa.
Too long, too early...but it's a start.
It's really only a matter of time.
But til then we are dealing with Severe Weather Season.
Fast Hello From Denver....... Thoughts on Deadly, Violent Tornado and Moving into Severe Weather/Tornado Season in Dixie Alley. 67 Days Til Hurricane Season
Just taking a moment to say how sorry I was to hear of the horrific, deadly tornado that hit the Mississsippi Alabama area this weekend taking the lives of at least 26 people.
This is a part of the country that is often victimized by a multitude of natural disasters and yet we think of it as a rural, quiet area inland far from the coasts of Florida where it's perceived hurricanes are always making landfall or Oklahoma and Kansas where Tornadoes terrorize small towns on the Plains. In truth this is the heart of Dixie Alley, a region that often gets tornadoes and often gets tornadoes that hit in the dark of the night. It's an area filled with woods that obscure the horizon making it even more difficult to "see" a tornado is coming at you if you are even awake. Something about the South that our deadliest tornadoes in North Carolina are usually nighttime tornadoes that don't run out of steam just because the sun sets. In Florida they usually happen at the warmest part of the humid day when a cold front slices down throughthe state and the turbulent mixing of cold, dry air slamming into warm, moist air spins up small tornado or two. In Raleigh people are most afraid of nocturnal tornadoes that have been the worst ones for our area historically.
So it's worth remembering, if you are ever thinking of moving down there, this region can get strong inland impacts from Gulf Coast Hurricanes and terrific, tragic damage from tornadoes in the middle of the night.
A screenshot of the signature of the Tornado.
Easy to see where it is on this image above.
While this is an old article, it shows clearly where the Dixie Alley is and other places where Tornadoes are prone to happen should things come together in the environment to cause an outbreak of tornadoes. The link is down below, old but very informative on the various places tornadoes are prone to happen in the USA. I knew this would be bad, I have a lot of friends who went to chase as the odds for a dangerous tornado were high. Where a tornado forms and travels makes all the difference, sometimes it's out in the country where few people live, other times it takes aim a small rural towns that had little warning it was on it's way. They are often called the Finger of God as they just drop down and destroy a town, erasing it from the maps, but personally I think it's better to call them the Finger of the Devil stirring up trouble if we are going to get all spiritual about a very scientific event.
I'm in Colorado this weekend, outside of Denver for a family event as I have a son who lives here now and is no longer in Seattle. His kids love it here, the sky is an incredible shade of blue and reflects incredibly beautiful scenes when the snow is on the ground and I'm totally spacey, happy and enjoying my only real taste of snow this winter. I saw flakes falling on Thursday Night while out at a cute spot called Forget Me Not in Denver. Yesterday morning I woke up to everything covered in snow as if God simply spilled some marshamallow fluff all over the landscape in the middle of the night. Stunningly beautiful and know I know what all my weather friends who studied meteorology out here were always raving about.
I have a daughter-in-law in Miami who can't do Denver because the elevation bothers her breathing, Breckingridge totally did her in so my son goes skiiing with friends and she stays in Florida. The elevation doesn't bother my breathing, but I do think I'm a bit spacier than normal or let's say sillier and enjoying just "being" and not checking up on social media much. My son, who creates algorithms for huge companies isn't on social media as he knows much about how they work. I'm actually not 100% sure what he does as it's often top secret or things he can't talk about. So not posting much from his family event, though I will be posting something later weatherwise or otherwise.
One thing I will say about this son, he's helped me see parts of the country I probably never would have ever travelled to...
I've seen Postville, Iowa and many beautiful places nearby the small little town. Decorah, near Postville, has a traffic light and some fast food restaurants whereas Postville has meat processing plants and corn that grows everywhere. I've been to Chicago as he has his wedding there and got to see all there is to see in Chicago! I've seen Seattle that I love sooo much . . . No words to say how much I love Seattle. And, now I'm seeing Denver and got to see the Rocky Mountains up close and personal covered in snow. I got to see snow in 2023 piled high, something I didn't see much of in North Carolina this year.
I had an interesting talk with a lady in a Sinclair Gas Station after screaming out like I was a five year old child "Oh my gosh there's a Sinclair Gas Station" at which point I realized I wasn't five and no one around me knew what I was talking about as they didn't live in LA like I did. So yes, that happened. An odd highpoint of my trip to the Rocky Mountains! Anyway the lady in the gas station said I was "lucky" as it's usually their snowiest time of year up here and I told her "I do weather and I love snow" she immediately apologized, laughed and said I should see where she grew up "in Oklahoma, it snows like crazy there" as she rang up my snacks I was buying for the trip up the mountain. I told her about how I do hurricanes and storm chasing growing up in Florida and she told me how she used to chase tornadoes in Oklahoma growing up. It was a total meeting of the meteorological minds in the middle of nowhere. Weather souls bonding with each other!
So marking this event in my blog during the off season 67 days until Hurricane Season begins.
It's been a nice vacation in an awesome destination with some of the family and catching up with my daughter-in-law's family that I've celebrated other happy events with in the past. Like seeing old friends. We are in a very large Air BNB that is serving as a meeting spot so it's been loud, fun, noisy and well a real vacation in all ways. This morning my brother and I sat downstairs in the basement comparing travel experiences here giggling like little kids laughing over things we wouldn't share with others. Been fun!
I'll be back in Raleigh soon and I'm pretty sure I'll catch up on all my tropical reading awaiting me in various groups I'm in and trying to figure how how this tornado pattern connects to other years hurricane wise if it does or doesn't .... and watching our budding El Nino growing in the Pacific.
We have only just begun the Severe Weather Season and more tornadoes will happen and I hope and pray that many who live in these parts will take the watches and warnings seriously. One man interviewed insisted had he not hidden in that closet he'd be dead like some of his neighbors. What's problematic about this region in Dixie Alley is due to the high water level and the density of the stone beneath the soil (from what I've been told) very few people there have tornado shelters as they do in say Oklahoma and honestly there are many small, rural towns where people do not have much money to try and build one even if they could. In the same way many have problems preparing for a hurricane in these parts where trees fall and take down power and small tornadoes spinning up in the hurricane remnants can do much destruction far inland. Takes money to buy a generator "just in case" or build a safe room just in case strong tornado comes to visit your home town.
Sweet Tropical Dreams,
Nightclubs on Miami Beach are way more tropically beautiful than the aftermath of a Cat 4 Hurricane making landfall, as one did in 1926. Hurricane Season is not that far away so try and put together the basics for first aid and whatever you need the most come hurricane season. Stock up on any OTC medications you use regularly, especially allergy medication as everything is dirty, moldy and disgusting after the hurricane without power and as trees rot in the hot humid sunshine, trust me if you have allergies make sure you have your medications on hand before hurricane season.
Sorry for any typos, everyone wants to go somewhere and I had little time to type let alone proof read.
Besos BobbiStorm
@bobbistorm on Twitter and Instagram
Twitter mostly weather and Instagram whatever.
Ps I had a friend who passed away this past year. Sharon loved John Denver and weather so this one is for her...
West Coast Equinox Storm.... Spring Mornings. Winter Leaving. 71 Days Til Hurricane Season. El Nino Getting Ready to Put on a Show ...Currently Neutral But Stay Tuned.
I love this oak tree!
It may not seem much to you...
...but I tell time with it.
Seasonal time!
I woke up early this morning and decided to take a walk at sunrise. Note, I knew there wasn't going to be much of a sunrise but I was in the mood to look around. For years growing up in South Florida I loved the sunrise, when in Key West I'd watch tourists so excited to take a technicolor picture and it seemed odd as it happens even on quiet days in Miami you see the colors of the sunrise. I knew it's different for them in Key West than back home somewhere far from the tropics, but I didn't realize how different until I moved to North Carolina.. Especially in the Piedmont, far from the ocean or the mountains and Raleigh is inland ....and yes occasionally you see the sun come up in a bright orange ball behind the pine trees but it's rare.
Miami, always has some color.
My brother saw the picture and sent me this one above. Even a "quiet sunrise" in Miami has various shades of color, changing moment to moment in real time. He's obviously on his way to work and out and about. It's 47 degrees in Raleigh right now, 71 degrees in Miami and for Miami that's an almost cool pleasant sunrise experience. I appreciated the photo, I know that area well!
Spring be springing in Raleigh, out West it's probably not so Spring like but I'll find out soon. Time will tell, I'll blog.
Stayed up last night watching some loops and listening to some friends on YouTube discuss this incredible, amazing cyclonic system that moved inland to California looking as if it had an eye, a real no name storm. We could call it the Spring Equinox Storm I suppose as often storms do spin up somewhere around the Equinox!
Below you can see it on Earthnull!
I posted this last night.
The retweet was important.
Impacts were felt up and down the coast.
Even in Southern California...
..weather was crazy.
Over by Africa....
...far to the South.
A little cloud complex is there... an early wave.
There's always something going on there...
Yes, that's current.
Dabuh would say "take the second wave"
Just too early but still there.
The Seasons they be a changing. Winter is slowly sliding away, not that it did a whole lot in the East this year but next year should be cold and wet IF El Nino forms the way we expect it to. I expect El Nino to do some showing up once it gets going. I'm going to post a link down below to a good video by an expert in all things weather but especially Hurricane Season. I'm tired of Click Bait articles promising "nothing to worry about" because El Nino is coming on strong. Yes, and no ... maybe. It's always a "maybe" when it comes to El Nino. What kind of El Nino do you get? Where does it set up? How fast does it build? What will it be like during Hurricane Season??
My salient points are listed here below:
1. You can see El Nino showing it's red head in the Pacific.
2. You can also see the GOM is warm for winter, as it's been a warm winter.
3. Off the East Coast there's pockets of warm water as winter was missing in action.
4. This is important as early in the season we could get busier before shear from the EPAC sets in.
5. Storms forming or intensifying in warm waters close to land are often an issue during El Nino!
Just a lot of questions, watch in real time and ignore Click Bait, stick with the experts!!
On This Day in History --- Deadly 1925 Tri-State Tornado Happened. Slow Hurricane Season Followed. 1926 Hurricane Season Very Deadly.
This is a real newspaper.
The type u usually see when a Major Cane makes landfall...
...at a big, popular waterfront city.
It was a different world in 1925.
No Weather Apps, Weather Radios or Warnings.
No Twitter sharing information in real time.
No YouTubers gone LIVE
It's called the Tri-State...
...because it went through 3 states.
Again this happened on March 18th.
The day after St. Patrick's Day.
Radio told the story in bits and pieces.
Newspapers showed horrific images...
...listing the dead.
Up close and way too personal.
A good video with lots of details.
There are so many you can get lost!
It's not a joke to say people use metaphors for storms as agents of change, of trouble descending upon people suddenly without warning that ripped apart the fabric, the very foundation of their lives. Sometimes, in the end, the change was for the good but when someone's world has been blown away everything changes. It's a great scene in the movie Twister where you realize the cute fiance didn't really think he actually meant he "chases tornadoes" but it's true, it's often a metaphor for troubles in our lives. Carrie Underwood was born in Oklahoma, it's a great song and a great video.
We live in a wonderful time when we can be warned of such a possible event days in advance, possibly longer if some long range model actually gets it right. And, when you know Reed Timmer is on the ground somewhere "LIVE" you know in real time that some place is under the gun, under the fickle finger of fate, the Finger of God is about to descend out of the heavens and blow away parts of some town, somewhere and yet we have watches and warnings. In 1925 it hit suddenly while children will in schools made of bricks that were torn apart falling onto the children, many of whom died.
Next time you hear there's a Tornado Warning, heed the precautions and be grateful that somewhere someone is live on air giving information down to the time of arrival of the possible tornado in your town and the town next to it or any other town you may be driving through soon.
But this is a Hurricane aka Tropical Blog mostly.
Yes, weather is always covered...
...so my mind goes to the 1925 Hurricane Season.
A very slow hurricane season.
As for the 2023 Hurricane Season... well .... we just don't quite yet what sort of hurricane season it will be. As El Nino forms in real time and we see how fast it grows and long we will be in Neutral as we flip the switch. Where and when it forms and how it interacts with other weather features will tell the story down the road.
Yes I looked up the 1925 Hurricane Season.
I knew it was a very slow one.
Prepare now, make a plan for where you will go if you are in the path of a deadly hurricane. You can't wish them away, but you can make a plan and know in advance you may be in trouble. That's a whole lot better than those poor souls in 1925 and then a year later with a deadly 1926 Hurricane Season. Isn't it ironic that one of the worst Hurricane Seasons came after a weak, infamously weak one!
El Nino on the Way? What kind of El Nino? A Little Bit of History Repeating? 1982 El Nino Year. Odd Weather. California Storms. April Blizzard in NY. Quiet Hurricane Season.
Let's go back to 1982. I lived in LA in West Hollywood and wasn't tracking hurricanes. I did follow geology and watched the Pineapple Express send storms into the LA Basin and I'm talking the rainy kind not any other kind.
1982 was part of an El Nino Cycle and it was a very slow hurricane season. Slow, as in all over slow, and only one real strong hurricane.
That's a slow season. 1982.
Today someone on Twitter made the comment that no one should ever mention the 2023 Winter (on the East Coast) ever again, much in the way storm chasers don't like to mention a few hurricane seasons which were very strange and storms started and sputtered out and then tried to come back again in an endless array of mediocrity. Strong vertical wind shear... odd wind shear, wind shear that stopped everything from doing anything meaningful and so if you hate hurricanes and wish they'd go away that would be the year you'd wish for to repeat again. Especially as El Nino is on the way...
I believe that was the year I watched water race down the road from the Hollywood Hills as if a river was in front of our cute little duplex that suddenly sprung a leak in the roof. My 4 year old daughter had woken us to tell us "Mommy it's raining in the bedroom" so we hauled her mini swimming pool under the leak and then found out we had a river running down our narrow street. Never saw a current like that headed down the hill before or after, though by the late 80s I was back in Miami Beach tracking hurricanes not random El Nino events.
Link below...
2023 Hurricane Season is an unknown, though we do know El Nino seems to be forming and then again we have the question "what kind of El Nino?" as they are now clustered into different categories. What if El Nino doesn't form and we get stuck in "NEUTRAL" way into the Hurricane Season?
So many questions. Not any real answers. Something to think about.
In April of 1982 a massive snow storm hit the NY area.
2023 so far has been an odd year! Weather wise and otherwise. I'm guessing it'll just get weirder the next few months as Winter decides to hit the road until next year and we move deeper into Spring and Summer and then comes Hurricane Season. By then we will have a better view of what we are really facing El Nino wise.
As for me 1982 will be remembered for rides up and down La Cienaga Boulevard on Saturday nights stopping in places on Sunset Blvd, eating delicious food at the Milky Way Restaurant and loving Culture Club as I shopped in the May Co. on Wilshire Blvd. Loved riding up and down PCH 101... in Malibu, life was good in ways except the weather was a little bit crazy!
SNOWED in RALEIGH... North Carolina Piedmont Got Snow.. in March... Snow on the Pollen. Dusting of Snow! Thoughts on Seasons and the Carolinas...
Icon from Windy.com probably came closest!
Even South of Raleigh there was some sleet!
So it snowed!
Snowed, sleet and a bit of mixed wintry preciptation.
Then it rained and washed away the snow.
I am not complaining!!
Incredibly wrapped up Low there...
Started with a magical sunrise.
Phone camera never catches the intensity.
For a minute it was blood purple red!
Definitely a day for some weather trouble.
Red sky at night...sailor's delight.
Red sky at morning...sailor's take warning.
As Google explains...
A while back the models went a bit bat shit crazy predicting a wild snow storm for the Carolinas that would have been of historic proportions. To be fair that was for March 17th and we are not there yet, but the forecast has been for colder weather and as it's best to have cold air in place if you're wishing for snow you want some cold air in place. I was elated yesterday while walking in the very cold North wind thinking "the cold weather is in place" and then I prayed, the whole way to Temple on Saturday morning I talked to God asking for any sort of frozen precipitation not just for me but all the kids here so pitifully sad that it hasn't really snowed all winter here.
We don't really expect to get a huge snow storm every year, but we do expect to get a few dustings or one or two snows with some accumulation. We don't expect April flowers to bloom in late February. And, yet it's often those years that bring a burst of snow out of nowhere in March. If you are thinking on moving to North Carolina, as so many have recently, be aware you will get more snow than you might want or not as much as you hoped for ... it's not Jacksonville, Florida. It's not even South Carolina so if you don't want snow keep on going South of the Florida Georgia Line.
North Carolina is a land where the Seasons reign supreme. We have a short, but very hot summer, followed by a glorious Fall and we can get hurricanes during the Hurricane Season. College Football is huge here so choose a college if you are gonna root for a team, I'm all NC State Wolfpack as my daughter graduated from NCSTATE! They also have a fantastic meteorology program!! Then we move into a frosty Fall filled with Pumpkin Spice Lattes and homes decorated for Halloween and then we move into Christmas/Chanukah whatever winter time holiday you choose where we decorate again and then New Years! Winter brings frost, snow, sleet and sometimes thundersnow as well as what's called Lasagne Storms where the sleet sets in, it snows, we get some more sleet and when you walk outside your boots go through the crunchy layer and drop 2 inches through the snow til you hit what's now ice. Did I mention we get Ice Storms too? March brings March Madness and usually a NC team wins! The weather begins to warm up, the pollen hits and everything turns yellow. Spring hits all at once or one bush at a time, you just never know....North Carolina is never boring weather wise. And, it's often in this time of year that we get pollen, warm hot days and the week ends with snow. Every single year it seems like this happens. Snow on the pollen, snow on the azaelas and it's snow that shows up and then melts fast as the thermometer begins to heat up again and you're back to sandals and short sleeves while waiting to see if Mother Nature will do it again before it's officialy Spring.
I'm sure I forgot a season or two. We have mini seasons such as "tomato season" when everyone either grows tomatoes or buys heirloom tomatoes at the market as if they are strawberry cheesecake. Fig season in late summer. Collard Season is winter, when there's barely anything fresh at the Farmer's Market but wood to burn and Collards to buy!
Today in Raleigh it was Winter!
Wore the same shoes I wore to the beach for Nicole!
TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE.... Small Chance of Snowflakes in Raleigh in March. That Last Chance Saloon Hope for Snow in This Part of the Piedmont.
Let me be clear here....
...i have the chance of snow for tomorrow.
Officially.
This is not the 18Z teasing me on the 10th day, but just under 10 hours away there is a chance... a chance... we have a bit of snow falling before it changes over to rain.
Nope not falling for it.
Not a stooge in a Farrelly Brother's movie.
....been there...done that....
Just playing with you...
...older wiser.
Winter of 2023 has nearly done me in..
Tempering my excitement with "it's March 2023" and we only had snow flakes at 1 AM once a long time ago for about 20 minutes this whole winter. It's been a season in hell for my fellow snow fans in the Carolinas and other areas close enough by to know what it's like to have a snow drought and only that small "trace" recorded for 20 minutes way back when we thought we'd have many more chances of real snow this winter. So glad I went outside at 1 AM in the middle of the night back when to see snow falling!!
Been a real season in hell for winter weather lovers...
If you know you know..........
Years ago I'd be excited or a believer but it's been a year of deceiving models that made promises never kept. And, now it's March and trees are in bloom and people are planting tomatoes even though experts said to "wait" and the local news is showing segments on how to handle Spring Allergies. Hint... take a whole lot of showers every time you come in from outside, treat your clothes as if there was a radiation leak at the nearby Nuclear Plant...wash them twice before drying them for a real long time. Every time you go outside!
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