Tale of 2 Seasons. Hurricane Season Exiting & Winter Already Here and Staying.

When seasons collide.........

Trees with leaves get ice and fall down.

Football is played in the snow.

And our hurricane supplies ...

...become winter storm supplies.

Except in Florida.....

... where you can snack to your heart's content!

I'm sure I've used that phrase before but I can't think of a year that so exemplifies that saying in a meteorological way as 2018. We had a season that started early and looked as if we would have a map filled with tracks from barely there tropical storms and numerous subtropical storms. What's in a name? A name designates importance and yet it's hard to take a Tropical Storm that barely has any weather associated with it seriously ... yet it has a name and is on the map. Other weak tropical storms can intensify fast into players that take us by surprise. TWC likes to name winter storms ...they say to identify specific ones and others say it's just for hype...still it has a name and a hashtag online. Perhaps TWC got that part sooner rather than later, because if something doesn't have a name it doesn't really exist in a way that everyone can easily share information at the same time. In retrospect there was the SNOWCANE that the news channels gave a title to and splashed graphics across their screens several years ago in New York but there have been many "SNOWCANES" if you follow the New York media that loves to hype up anything and everything. Nuff said on names. So let's look at our map below.

This is preliminary as storms are reviewed by NHC.

This is from Jim Williams "End of the Year" review.

I suggest you watch it if you want a look back.

Please share it .... 

...good job by the man who was in the eye of Michael.

A look back at 2018 Hurricane Season ...

Save it to compare to next year.

I have some thoughts on that but ...

...that's a blog for another day.

Look at all those high latitude tracks.

And the longest track of all from Africa to the Carolinas.

And it's a high latitude track avoiding the cooler MDR.

Hard to even find Beryl on that map...

Remember Beryl? 

During the peak of the season we ended up with hurricanes.

Florence and Michael will be retired names.

They will go down in hurricane history.

And now we have winter that busted down our door.

Winter didn't knock gently.

Winter showed up early and refuses to leave.

The leaves on our trees are falling, clinging, falling.

The world turns below beautifully.

Look at that awesome Atlantic Gale.

Remember our old yellow circle from the NHC?

Yes it was there ....they saw it.

Yes it pulled together and swirled away..

And look at that front trying to make it through Florida.
Look at that feed across Mexico into Texas still.
Texas had nonstop no name storms ...
...now the weather is continuing into the winter.

Will that front make it through?

NOAA says YES

http://origin.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/allfcsts_loop_ndfd.gif

You have to click to see what happens...

Today in Miami and Broward County there's fog.

Fog usually shows up in late December.

It's early this year like everything else.

My youngest brother moved from North Miami Beach up to Broward County and it puts him closer to many places he enjoys taking sunrise pictures of ...including his backyard as he is on a small lake in the Hollywood area. I like Hollywood. I complain about Broward sometimes (sorry) but to be fair North Miami Beach is pretty much South Broward as it's so far NORTH and close to the county line. TY Park is a place my mother-in-law loved and walked every day for a year or two when she lived in a senior facility across the street from there. She was raised in upstate New York and could walk for hours staring a nature. Now she's in a rest home in Maryland taking walks around the large property there but she did love TY Park. My kids have birthday parties there for their children and picnics for get togethers. It's a great, green, beautiful, verdant park but you can't tell that from the picture above that looks as if my brother was somewhere in Paris on the Seine. 

http://www.broward.org/Parks/TopeekeegeeYugneePark/Pages/Default.aspx

That is the same park above as the fog picture I posted.

Probably close to where my brother took that picture.

Fog arrives in winter in Miami.

A few days here and there out of nowhere.

Winter came early this year everywhere.

Snow maps show the next five days.

Again Mike has these up on his site.

And some new links I noticed....

www.spaghettimodels.com

 Below is the "freeze line"
Note it goes down to the Florida Panhandle.

And today a good part of the country ...

..is covered in precipitation of some kind.

What a perfect day for Cyber Monday.

I changed my plans for today.

I'm packing up presents.

Trying to take stock of who gets what...

..and make sure I don't miss anyone.

It's a big family.......

Ordering a few things on Amazon because it's easy.

Maybe buy something for me?

Maybe... we'll see.

Will mail out stuff when the sun comes out.

And then...enjoy the cooler weather.

People who know me and know how much I love Florida also know I have come to love this time of year in the Carolinas. Dry air means I breathe better and am less prone to Summertime sinus headaches that are horrible in Miami and I have less pollen problems up here this time of year. I like the way the trees look showing off their beautiful structure and I can see the sky again! Well unless it gets down into the teens I like dressing up in leggings and short skirts over high boots or wearing a pair of jeans with an oversized soft shirt. It's one reason I loved LA in that the winter was always beautiful and storms would come through and clear out the basin and you could see the mountains in all directions including some with snow on top of them. I'm dreaming.... of Seattle but my mother dance card is filled through February with places I need to be and promises I need to keep. Lord I'd love to sneak away for a few days but it usually takes me that long to get past the long trip to Seattle to see my son and his family there and... a city I have come to love intensely.

What do you love? Is it on sale today? One of the best things about "Cyber Monday" is it's a time to load up on basics you need in life that are often on sale or sold on a 15% or 25% or even a 30% discount. Lancome Le Stylo Waterproof Black Noir is on my list as it's a staple in my life. There's a pricey item I buy once a year from Dior that blurs the lines between my eyes so I look way younger than I am (good genes really.... though Estee Lauder gets credit as does Drunk Elephant ....Google it if you need) so yeah I'm a bit boring as I'm not buying any big tag items this year. I'll be looking for deals on products I use often around the house (not just make up) and I'm decorating for Chanukah that also comes early this year. 

Happy shopping and stocking up on that dream item or those things you use often that you need at discount. Good luck with presents (think gift cards....they work well for older kids and adults) and as my father used to say "you gotta do what you gotta do" and so I suggest you do it with love and happiness and joy. I got some good Hungarian genes from him ;) (and Lithuania/Baltic too) and yes go for the Ancestry discounts today if you want to find any surprises under your tree in a few weeks ;) Thanks for reading this mish mosh today of deep information and run on sentences and thanking my meteorological friends who have enriched my life in so many ways over the years... Still going strong as the song goes... 

Ha... weather is on sale this year.

https://www.weathershop.co.uk/shop/gifts/stocking-fillers

For Fishing...

For Sue...

For you know who you are....

And for those of you ready for some holiday music.... it's the most wonderful time of the year!

Enjoy Andy Williams singing of the most wonderful time of the year from 1963 a wonderful year in that a few of my closest friends are born that year (good people) and a younger brother who is in Greece somewhere and hey you can buy his book as a stocking stuffer or if you are looking to read poems and prose while sitting on the toilet this book is for you. If you read it you'll understand that as he has some fascination with broken toilets in his fantastic collage art. Yes, we are all originals in our family, different as night and day and winter and summer yet we have one thing that binds us... creativity oozing out of our veins and whether we are authors or photographers we are always looking through the world through the eyes of an artist.  

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1980911312

I don't make this up... see one of his recent works. His work is deep, devilish and delightful depending on his mood. Check it out on Amazon if you know someone who likes to read new authors and has a good sense of humor and an appreciation of poetry, prose and the arts.

Besos BobbiStorm

@bobbistorm on Twitter

Follow me on Twitter for faster updates on breaking weather of all kinds.

(no Ps... nope, nada, nooooooo)

Is Amazon Coming to Raleigh? Snow is Melting & Life is Slowly Going Back to Normal. Black Ice Warnings This AM & Probably Tonight. Greyhound Bus and Cruise Ships. Why don't they check the weather first? Things That Make You Wonder. Alzheimer's Research and Thank YOU!

As Mike from  www.spaghettimodels.com shows in a photograph that we are dealing with winter weather today. The Hurricane Season and everything tropical takes a back seat to the deep diving winter weather that dove all the way down to the Sunshine State where Jack Frost visited Tampa Florida.   Some discussion today on life in one of the cities nominated for Amazon's new 2nd Headquarters or however the actual wording goes....

Another great pic 

'

@weatherwes

Wes Hohenstein.

Great image... 

Sometimes photos tell a story well.

Speaking of photographs.

You should really follow him on Twitter.

He puts poetry into photography.

Melds them together.

What else is on the menu today?

Some discussion on winter weather in a city not used to winter weather and for the most part loving it as if we were given a true Winter Vacation.

Some discussion further down the road on why... "just why" does Greyhound emulate the crappy attitude of cruise ship companies that feel it okay to endanger the lives of their passengers for profit. Just why do they ignore a carved in ice winter weather warning and take chances with the lives of their passengers by ignoring weather forecasts until the snow piles up and their drivers refuse to drive.  But more on that later.

I'm quoting an on air news person from WRAL who said "the trees are tall and the shadows are long" trying to remind people not to go out and drive around unless they have to ... until the ice on the roads melt. Yes, we have a Black Ice Warning... school is out and kids are home looking to build snow men and have snow fights. Raleigh doesn't get this sort of snow often, much like Seattle which I'll talk on later, it gets light dustings that melt the next day. A real snow event makes everyone here either hide under the covers or dance in the snow. If you like the seasons Raleigh is a wonderful place to live. It has a long fall and a long spring. The winter in Raleigh along with the dead dog days of summer are shorter than many places. I timed the visit to Miami to get back in time to see Raleigh turn into a Winter Wonderland. Enjoy it fast as Sunday we are flirting with sunny and 60 degrees!

The bright sun is almost blinding.

Even when the roads are plowed!

I just want to add one thing to people online who think they know so much about "Black Ice" but they seem clueless about the reality of human nature or anything beyond their own skill set. The picture above illustrates the dangers on the road today around Raleigh. Yes, you can't see the ice in the dark and that is why it is called "black ice" but most people who are not used to winter weather are clueless how to handle a car when it starts to slide on "black ice" or any ice. Not everyone knows what to look for or how to drive on roads that have not been plowed or were plowed and are now covered in slick icy spots. Again... this doesn't happen often. It's much like Miami and hurricanes as only the old timers there know what to do and how to prepare properly. Raleigh, much like Miami and Seattle, is a city that has a diverse transitory population. People move here to work on projects at various tech companies and then often put down roots. We have the three of the top colleges in the country with many out of town students who don't always know how to handle the hilly streets in Raleigh or the roads when covered in snow or ice.  The city and the school board errs on the side of safety and asks people to stay home and off the roads. In a day or two everything melts or ends up in slow melting piles if it has been plowed and we go back to normal.

No Swimming today...

...though the sun feels warm!

Raleigh is in the mix for the prime prize Amazon is awarding to a city it deems worthy of their incredible presence. I know how incredible it is as my son interned and worked there and I've spent some time at the Amazon buildings in Seattle. Amazon should stand for #Awesome when it comes to adding life and energy into any city lucky enough to host it's new headquarters. They are modern, ecological minded and they even allow people who work there to take their dogs to work for the day when needed. From something as small as pets to tall beautiful buildings employing people from all over the world it's a win win for any city who does indeed wins this prime prize. 

Raleigh is a great city to live in and I mean pretty much throughout the whole year not just a few months here and there such as Boston which is beautiful but too cold or Miami which is wonderful but really hot and humid most of the year. Raleigh is a lot like Seattle in that we have abundant water for fishing, sporting, boating and taking great #selfies and mountains near enough for a nice weekend away. We have a wonderful airport which would get much more crowded should we become an Amazon city but it's new and easy to access as are many cities such as Seattle as it's easy to fly out and in unlike some cities that are wonderful but... they have limited access. I love Savannah and Wilmington but the airport is smaller and you have to get off the highway to get there. Amtrak is building a new Train Station in downtown Raleigh and there is a brand new station in Cary. It's an easy place for people who like to commute or travel often and we all know I do. Beaches are not far away though a bit too far for me though the beaches in Seattle are mostly scenic vs the ones you find in Florida. 

In Raleigh people are so friendly at times you want to puke .. if you come from a colder, impersonal city where people pass each other without even blinking. It's a great place to raise a family and there are many places downtown to party or hang out at night. If you were raised on Miami Beach it's a bit boring, but boring is usually good when you are a young family trying to pay off your student loans while living in a very affordable large home in a safe neighborhood. I do complain often to my friends but in truth those are unique complaints that I have that the average person living here does not have such as a nice trendy Kosher restaurant or any kosher restaurant for that matter. But being a Southern Jew whose family goes way back in the South several generations I do love many things about Raleigh. I still think it's Eastern Tennessee but that's another talk for another day.

I also want to warn you that riding Greyhound Bus into Raleigh is akin to taking your life into your hands if you get stuck at the Richmond VA bus station which happens often to people it seems. Raleigh has a nicer bus station (new) and the people are friendly. My daughter took a bus to Raleigh as she is on a budget and has taken the bus here before and it was "okay" in that it is always easy to jump on a bus for a fast ticket out of town on a when you are on a budget. Plus you can use your power stick that stays full for up to 260 hours and play video games or watch TV while you are traveling those friendly roads. 

During the winter when Winter Storm Inga was threatening for days and there were Winter Weather Advisories and Winter Weather Warnings Greyhound in NYC insisted there would be no delays or problems riding their Express bus to Raleigh the night the storm was beginning. She never would have gotten on the bus had they not insisted that there would be no problems and there were no weather concerns. Obviously..... Greyhound ignores winter weather advisories the way cruise ship lines ignore hurricane warnings. Their need for showing they can get their passengers where they want to go seems to beat out common sense and concerns for safety.  It seems their bus drivers refused to drive the bus even when Greyhound insisted they could safely drive through Black Ice Warnings. I know this as the bus drivers had fights with their managers in Richmond in front of their passengers who after sitting there for more than 4 hours with no information began to argue so much that the police had to be called in to stop the fight. I suppose the Captains on the cruise ships are less likely to abandon ship in the middle of the ocean. Either way it's pretty pathetic. I was worried she would get stuck in Richmond and equally worried no one would be able to pick her up at the bus terminal as we had black ice warnings until Noon in Raleigh yesterday.

My daughter who lives in Brooklyn is pretty tough, she has driven from Ottawa to Miami more than once and traveled extensively and lived in North Miami Beach in an area that is pretty tough at times if the wrong person gets upset but the scene in Richmond was something out of a bad movie. Greyhound seems to have a Cowboy mentality and they put you on the stagecoach and they drive it until the driver disappears into the dark night while they are watering the horses. To make this more ridiculous their website insisted there were no travel delays so I suppose it's a sort of FAKE NEWS issue by them because if they don't report they are having a travel delay there is no delay. She did get in around 4:45 PM yesterday (8 hours late) while the sun was still up and we were able to pick her up and run to Trader Joes on the way home to buy Ice Cream before they closed at 5 PM due to safety concerns for the black ice that forms as soon as the son goes down around here during a snow event. She brought freshly baked chocolate chip cookies with her that we crumbled over Trader Joes Vanilla Pareve Ice Cream after a nice warm hot meal.  Glad she is here but seriously it's pathetic she had to go through that but I guess it could have been worse. She could have been locked in her cabin cruising through a Hurricane for hours and hours. We have this great organization called the National Weather Service they might want to check it out.

http://time.com/4916794/hurricane-harvey-cruise-ship/

http://fox8.com/2017/01/30/bus-gets-stuck-in-snow-spins-tires-catches-fire/ a few weeks ago...

So........  this is why so many people I know who don't like to fly (and there are many) drive cross country rather than trust others to get them where they need to go. That said Southwest and JetBlue that fly out of Raleigh are usually very good as is Amtrak as they are quick to inform travelers of safety problems.  

Lastly I'm going to post some pictures here to show the beauty of Raleigh in the Snow. And....thanks again for taking the time to read my blog in the winter when I go long on personal matters and muse about life vs informing the public of the latest tropical trouble. I do appreciate your feedback and your follows on Twitter. 

Speaking of personal. My youngest daughter had a birthday yesterday in Miami and rather than hope her friends and family bought her presents she asked everyone to donate money to Alzheimer's research. Facebook lets you post a page (they need time to approve the charity by the way.......) and it can be posted and shared in social media. The link to her page is below. She did achieve her original goal and has far surpassed it but you can still donate. As I said online elsewhere Alzheimer's and dementia is an equal opportunity disease and cuts across all boundaries of race, color, religion or political persuasion. It is the one equalizer that finds a way to hit all of us where it hurts the most. Be it a parent or a friend's parent it's painful and it hurts to watch a person slowly slip away. Money makes the world go round and it pays for research to find ways to prolong people's lives with a better quality of life and hopefully one day we will have a cure. So any amount donated makes a difference as we are truly a village (honest) and we all one human family. Thanks to all who donated and I appreciate it greatly as does my daughter who is happy to have made a difference. Know you can do this on Facebook with your family and friends as well. 

Besos BobbiStorm

@bobbistorm on Twitter

http://act.alz.org/site/TR?fr_id=11139&pg=personal&px=9601092

Link above helps you navigate to the page :)

Ps... enoy the pictures :)

Car dealerships above.

Snow glowed like diamonds in the sun.

As it melted ...froze and melted.

The sky was so blue yesterday...

Just beautiful.