Back From the Beach. Models Whisper Southern Snow. Pet Peeve about 1926 Miami Hurricane. Florida History. Weather Thoughts.

Yeah yeah it loves to promise snow late in the 10 day.

Other apps do it too.... it's model driven of course.

So we have a snowy jigsaw puzzle.

Keep watching.

Chick lives in the Sandhills.

Usually they have a slimmer chance than Raleigh.

Roxboro has the best chances usually.

Okay I'm home and the first thing to greet me this morning was the possibility of snow on my various weather apps. I use them but I don't trust them that much but it's a cheap thrill more a game than anything else. "What does the weather app show for the next 10 days" and come on we all do it because if you are reading this blog you are probably slightly obsessed with the weather. Any forecast beyond the five day to me is still iffy though I tend to trust the seven day a bit more. 10 days is speculation and innuendo and means as Brad says the pattern is favorable!

I'll wait to see what Wes in Raleigh says and Allan who is also in the Raleigh area over the next few days while adjusting to the cold night time temperatures again. Being into weather means that you check the weather often when making plans to celebrate events. This past weekend was a 10 year anniversary of sorts and I was debating whether to spend it in the Raleigh area or maybe drive to Charlotte or up to Highpoint but after checking the long range weather models I felt there was a good possibility we could pull off going to Myrtle Beach and the weather would be almost summer like if things fell into place. Again, what Chick said, it's a puzzle with pieces still falling into place when you watch the models. A suggestion of 72 degrees in Raleigh for Sunday was nice but a suggestion of similar temperatures at the beach if only the front would push through and clear out a good week's worth of gray skies and rainy days. Honestly did not see the sun for a week after getting back from Miami last week; after a while it does get to you I have to be honest and I don't generally mind a few rainy days. After an extremely beautiful sunset in Myrtle Beach's Broadway on the Beach I fell asleep to howling wind and woke up to this pristine, beautiful, incredible #nofilter sunrise with venus shining down on me. The last vestiges of clouds can be seen at the bottom of the horizon. Seen many beautiful sunrises in Myrtle Beach and other beaches but nothing like that.

I have blue skies outside out beyond the pine trees.

Carolina pines and Carolina Blue skies.

Winter in Raleigh when the sun shines.

Stu Ostro is good to follow.

He's one of the best.

Met him at some Hurricane Center event once.

He knows his stuff :)

This is a perfect example of an annular hurricane.

With that big, wide, perfectly round eye.

Wondering if that eye is bigger than the state of Rhode Island.

Possibly. Awesome and very far away.

A very strong February hurricane in the Pacific.

Strong and rare even for the Pacific.

Speaking of Hurricanes.

One of my biggest pet peeves is this:

"The 1926 Miami Hurricane killed the Boom"

No it did not.

I've written articles for Miami History magazines.

Researched endlessly with Dr. Paul George.

The Miami 1926 Hurricane hurt Miami.

But Miami was down for the count earlier that year.

The much awaited 1926 Winter Season was a BUST!

Bad press on true news stories flooded the national media.

New laws were put into place to stop bad real estate deals.

Binder Boys were flipping swamp land by the hour.

Binder Boys were in all the Boom Towns.

Both sides of the Florida Coast.

But they flourished in Miami.

https://www.heraldtribune.com/news/20150301/1920s-boom-not-a-walk-in-the-park

Real Estate practices then basically were like buying stock back when in that you could buy Florida Real Estate (not built on yet and often under water still) for a mere percentage of the price and that deal could be "flipped" and turned over ten times in an hour on mere speculation. Some of those subdivisions such as Coral Gables did get built, but many did not and people (tourists are people too) were swindled out of money by those hoping to make good money. New regulations were passed putting an end to the "Binder Boys" period ... a name mostly for their style of clothes they wore that were popular in the roaring 20s and their buying land on a binder... a wing and a prayer method that made them rich for a while. 

A huge ship named the Prins Valdemar capsized in a winter storm and ended up blocking the "turning harbor" that ships used to get into Miami and offload their lumber that was the fuel for the housing boom; without lumber it was hard to build houses and it was equally as hard to get other merchandise and people into the Magic City. Being Miami after they finally were able to get it up they hauled it over to the nearby docks and eventually turned it into a floating restaurant and party venue popular in Miami. Only in Miami does the problem get sold as a tourist attraction.

Add in two railroad strikes put a halt to the flow of money and people.

I mean in WINTER of 1926 you could not get to Miami for trying.

And you could not get building supplies or merchandise in either.

And the National Media now knew about the land swindles.

Florida Real Estate = Selling Swamp Land suddenly..

But oh what a time it was in the Roaring 20s.

Miami was a real paradise.

Before the ship capsized and the trains stopped running.

And the Media had a field day with the Binder Boys.

And then came the 1926 Miami Hurricane.

The Smithsonian does history.

But they should tell the whole story.

But hey it's more dramatic to blame it on the Hurricane.

And it is incredibly great footage.

It's fake in that the real footage was not in color.

But think of it as a colorized sequel :)

The hurricane gave Miami focus.

They cleaned up, rebuilt and were open again by 1927.

In the same way all the blue tarps from Irma are gone...

...and new construction is everywhere.

Hurricanes are a meteorological form of gentrification.

5 years after Hurricane Andrew....

... Homestead and Cutler Ridge property was worth way more.

People sold and left, real estate deals were everywhere.

Expensive construction with pools and higher price tags.

And the beat goes on .... 

North Carolina is beer country.

Beer is good on a rainy day.

Going to the beach is better when the sun comes out.

And the temperature is forecast to climb to 73!

And that is the beauty of Raleigh.

You can drive up to the mountains...

....or down to the beach.

Or just hang out in Raleigh.

But will it snow in Raleigh soon?

I'll be watching ...

But this week is mild temps and cold nights.

Works for me.

A little note here in that if we do get Carolina snow it's worth remembering some trees have early leaves and some trees are covered in early blossoms and a wet, messy snow will put pressure on those trees and I'm not even talking on the possibility of ice. So when things bloom early it's beautiful to see but it has a secondary threat if snow falls when flowers are on the trees and red maples already have new red leaves unfurling in the Carolina Blue sunlight.

And in about a month of so we will be worrying on pollen popping. Yep... Carolina has lots of seasons; summer, fall, winter, spring and pollen season!

Besos BobbiStorm

@bobbistorm on Twitter and Instagram.

Ps.... if you keep listening to that hurricane video on the 1926 the really chilling story is told on the 1935 Labor Day Hurricane. If you listen to the first hand survivors you will know it was not your average "storm surge" but truly a tidal wave that washed over the Florida Keys as the construction of the railroad created dams that early Florida author and ecologist warned against building that way but he was ignored and what he said would happen did happen and Florida Bay sucked the storm surge in the Atlantic over the railroad and the Florida Keys in one huge tidal wave that washed the train off the tracks and washing people out to sea.