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, October 11, 2018
Updated 5 PM Tropical Storm Michael Moving Through the Carolinas on His Way Back to the Sea... Atlantic Ocean and a Cone That Goes towards England. 50% Orange Circle Where Michael Formed in Caribbean. The Hurricane Season Isn't Over Yet.
This mass of rain is about to move through.
High winds.
Power outages up from when it moved through to the West.
Look at that wind history.
Amazing.
Tropical Storm Michael tapping into moisture again.
I'll do a full update either later tonight..
Or tomorrow.
I want to watch what happens...
...as we are under special warnings.
Michael...Still a Tropical Storm.
Awesome day in Raleigh.
Later...stay safe.
Besos BobbiStorm
Ps... Death toll is rising, even in NC a tree fell on a man in a car.
What I am watching while I type this post.
Drone video from Mexico Beach.
Just gone....
...in places where storm surge slammed onshore.
Why we beg people to leave and evacuate.
There is no fighting that sort of deadly power.
It's why we call it Ground Zero.
Where a storm surge hits land.
Storm Surge from a strong Category 4.
So where are we now...
..other watching in awe of the power of Michael.
Let's start at the beginning.
In the 5 day we have a 50% chance of development.
The zone is the area that brought you Michael.
It won't be "Michael" but it could be Oscar.
Nadine is out by Africa supposedly a "fish storm"
Leslie is still here after all this time.
Michael is over the Carolinas.
That NE at 21 MPH will increase in forward speed.
Statistics.
Michael one with "The Front"
The front that lifted him... pulled him North.
A strong early October Cold Front.
A strong October Hurricane.
This relates.
The set up called for this to happen.
That's why I wrote about it in July and August.
All September I said "a system riding a cold front"
I'm not a seer... it's a pattern.
A meteorological pattern.
The pattern called for this to happen.
Michael embedded in The Front.
Below shows concerns on where I live.
I'll believe it when I see it.
Yes took things in from the balcony...
I have batteries left over from Florence if power goes out.
Candles, canned food if I lose power...
...better now with Michael than Florence.
Cool weather pushes in behind The Front.
Look at those temperatures.
40s at night on Friday.
After Wilma in Miami it was easier than...
...after Andrew on Miami Beach.
Hurricanes that ride a front...
...flip the switch and turn the cold air on.
Again hurricanes help move air around the atmosphere.
That is why they exist they transport energy.
Where does Michael go down the road?
It's a long, long road.
Where does Michael go today?
Over my head... over the Carolinas and Virginia.
In Panama Beach there's an Air Force Base.
That's a fighter jet flipped upside down.
Michael knocked a train off it's tracks there as well.
It slammed through a bank and didn't look back.
A well built bank.
But when the wind gets inside...
..it rips everything apart.
And he's still going strong.
Not a hurricane, but less than a day after landfall.
He's moving towards the Atlantic Ocean.
Sniffing fumes of more moisture.
Watch him go...
Here in Raleigh I'm waiting to see what I will see.
If anything happens I'll post here...
...and of course on Twitter.
@bobbistorm on Twitter
So read my thoughts and think on what I said.
And, remember that the Hurricane Season is not over.
It's a busy hurricane season...
..and it came alive late in the season.
As for me...
Still gathering day and processing the data.
Michael was one for the history books.
Also one for meteorologists to study.
In Raleigh we have various warnings on the weather.
Michael and "The Front" are coming through today.
Rarely does Raleigh get real weather.
The problem with that is......
...when we do it makes National News.
Yeah, it's a huge hill hard to see how high.
It glazed over immediately and became ice.
A sheet of ice under falling snow.
What Raleigh really looks like in the snow is below.
Raleigh can be a beautiful place to live.
But got to tell you it's a little boring.
Rarely snows.
Hurricanes don't make it inland.
It's a Season's Lover's Dream.
Long Spring, Long Fall.
Today we are supposed to get weather...
...from Michael and "The Front"
No one wants Michael...
...but everyone wants "The Front"
The views from the Florida Panhandle are stunning.
But what is to be expected from a REAL Hurricane.
Not one of those lopsided tropical storms.
Or your typical barely a hurricane.
The view is the same as of Andrew.
There isn't much I can add today to what happened yesterday. I'm sure I'll update later today and write more. It's a big, huge mess. In some places it's just a mess, but in other places it's devastation. People who went through Michael in Panama City ...they won't want to hear about how people in Tallahassee went through there as the damage is not comparable. Much the way people in Homestead didn't want to hear about how bad Andrew was in Hialeah and Coral Gables. ln truth Coral Gables is a beautiful city filled with more trees than most people usually see in the "Miami Area" and those oaks and hardwoods that make Coral Gables so beautiful were ripped to shreds. People do love their trees. Miamians love their palm trees, Carolinians love their pine trees. No one likes to see them ripped to shreds, but it pales in comparison to a flooded city or a town totally ripped apart by a strong Category 4 hurricane.
Love that when you put in any place on the planet into Google.
And it shows if there is a Hurricane Warning.
Awesome really.
Hurricane Michael damage below "Panama City"
Hurricane Andrew damage below.
Hurricane Andrew had stronger winds.
Hurricane Michael had lower barometric pressure.
I would venture to say Hurricane Andrew was stronger in different ways and the damage was more intense when you realize in Miami most homes are built to codes with construction and in most parts of the Panhandle you have homes built to less codes and the homes are more wooden construction. The truth is every intense hurricane is different in intricately different ways. Some have little eddies of crazy wind carving out atmospheric rivers of damage and others are steady, solid bulks of hurricane force winds swirling in a more predictable manner. Some carry huge risks for tornadoes, especially later in the season as they tend to hook up with cold fronts and the tornadoes happen far from the center. Some hurricanes have all their wind in one round, neat center circulating fast around a cloudless eye and a bit further out it's all tropical storm force winds and squalls. And often until it makes landfall we just aren't sure how it will play out. Yes, storm surge is easy to forecast for a small narrow barrier island. But not everything is so simple and even landfall is hard to figure especially with Major Hurricanes where the eye sometimes wobbles within a general track and often the storm comes in parallel to the coast as Charley did or David did so every small variation in the track can mean a huge difference as to who gets landfall.
Yes, this hurricane formed under strong shear and that's rare but I've seen it before. Yes, Florence punched into dry air the whole way at a latitude that would not support that sort of development especially with SAL everywhere and yet she became a Major Hurricane in her own right in "negative conditions" ....so think of Albert Edison and how a child who could barely make it through school was able to create something that none of us can live without today. Mark Zuckerberg was never thought of as a "friendly" guy, not popular by any means yet he made a fortune and developed a social media platform that is based on being "friends" and being social. Hurricanes defy the rules sometimes and Major Hurricanes defy the rules in major ways. That's where we are today.
I wrote part of this post while talking to my son Moe. It's good to know my in-laws down in Tallahassee are good but their beautiful area took a beating. Nothing like Mexico Beach but trees are down and the power is out and it's a huge mess. My daughter-in-law Kristin is from there and we have become close as a family; I really like her mother a lot.. about as much as I like her and my granddaughter Olivia. Families expand with love over time. Her mother asked me to go back with her for Thanksgiving last year after the wedding in St. George Island, but I had to go back to Miami as I was driving back with my daughter and my grandson Judah; didn't want them alone in the car as it's a long drive. In Miami I had an awesome Thanksgiving with my daughter-in-law Rachel's family that is Cuban where I got to have Flan as well as incredibly delicious food with a ton of kids, relatives and dogs running around everywhere. Where will I be this Thanksgiving? Not sure. New York or Raleigh, probably Raleigh.
I love writing this blog. I love my kids. I love the stupid pine trees that are beginning to sway in the breeze off and on more on now than off. And, hopefully Raleigh will be okay and I'll go to the NC State Fair next week.
Stay tuned. Stay safe. Michael will be gone tomorrow. But his ugly legacy will live on for a long time while the Florida Panhandle and it's beautiful waterfront property tries to pick up the pieces.
There has been no video from St. George Island.
The one house that shows a storm surge is on the Bay.
As for me.. I'm in Raleigh.
Really.
Besos BobbiStorm
@bobbistorm on Twitter.
Ps... It's funny my son Moe was trying to find information on St. George Island an interesting way I wouldn't have thought of... Moe is one of those kids who had to learn things his own way as school was not his thing; he has a bit of ADD as a few of my kids do and he found ways to work around the system and survive and thrive. Kids who don't follow rules well when young don't do well in school and kids who want to do other things than sit in a boring class find ways to do other things. I have a touch of ADD but it never bothered my school learning, I thrive in a classroom he thrives out in the world. So he was going through Facebook looking for Facebook Live Videos of people who lived in Panama City and St. George. He found great videos with live time information. We are all different and that's a great idea. I wouldn't have thought about that ... even though I'm prone to do Facebook Live when out somewhere new or if something is happening. Note his name starts with a M like Michael and Mitch and Matthew :) He told me if I lost power in Raleigh we should drive down to him and his family in Miami; that's Moe but it's going to be in the 40s here this week and the NC State Fair is opening soon! Wow. I'll update later in the day. Thanks for reading and for all the support and kind words yesterday on Twitter.
Updated 11 PM. 125 MPH MAJOR HURRICANE Michael Moving Towards Landfall Along Florida Panhandle. Forecast to be a Cat 4. Tornado Threat in N FL All Day. Pay Attn to Local Weather Authorities. TS Nadine Forms in E Atlantic. Leslie Heading Back to Africa. Yellow Area 30% in Caribbean Could become Oscar.
The eye of Michael.
I cut this down from a larger image obviously.
Says it all... why we call it an EYE.
Still moving North.
Still getting stronger.
Note please what Dr. Rick Knabb said tonight.
This is basically what I wrote in my blog below.
What I wrote earlier tonight waiting for the 11 PM to come out.
Last hurricane this strong was Eloise in 1975.
People on air saying they have rode out every storm ...
Each different satellite shows something different.
Hard to really see things sometimes.
Could watch this all night.
And I am...
I could see this going to Cat 4.
But not predicting that.
Wouldn't take it off the table.
Something about the eye makes me think...
...it will soon do an eye wall replacement cycle.
Cone below.
Note how much closer to the coast is it now.
I really think this has been moving a bit faster than 12 mph.
Just my feeling.
I also think it has been taking the left side of the cone.
Yes I know it's forecast to hook right.
So I'm going to give you my late night thoughts. Know that these thoughts are just thoughts, flying fast off of my head and they have been rolling around inside my brain. Earlier discussion that I didn't post because I went out for a Smoothie and to walk around town a bit here.... talked on how it was moving North but would soon get picked up by the Westerlies. Then it mentioned it's strong, strengthening and expected to be stronger. I feel like those statements contradict each other. Yes... it is going North now and YES it will at some point bend back to the right. But every mile it moves North now it has to bend sharper to the right to be in the middle of the current cone. I'm splitting hairs here I know, I'm not saying it's going to curve off like that weird less respected green model showed earlier. I think it stays within the cone for sure but... a hurricane this strong wants to go poleward. There was talk on this the other day in the NHC discussion but then dropped over time. And it's running out of room frankly to stop lifting poleward. And I say "lifting" as it's "lifting" more than moving... it's aiming North, being pulled North caught in the flow and the need for a Major Hurricane to go poleward. So where exactly does it begin to curve more to the right? It makes all the difference for some beach town in it's path.
The tail will carry tornadoes and strong weather onshore.
Far to the right of the cone.
Remember NHC says dangers are outside the cone.
The cone is the center.
Weather will slam into the Big Bend.
Don't say I didn't warn you.
If you live safely to the East of the eye in Florida.
Do not feel you are safe.
You are safe from the core of the eye.
You are NOT safe from the WEATHER.
Severe weather.
TWC won't be there...
...they will be at the beach.
But the tornadoes will spin up fast.
Bring huge trees down fast.
Losing power is your smallest problem.
Don't say I didn't warn you.
What do I think?
I think people are clueless.
Not to be mean or cruel.
Just honest.
Before Andrew slammed into Miami Dade County everyone in the stores trying to grab anything they could find that wasn't perishable were also in total denial it would make landfall. There was a high ridge as hard as granite and no escape route with a CAT 5 Hurricane barreling West towards Miami and people were bitchy and annoyed they "had to go shopping" because they were sure it would turn "just like Hurricane David did" in 1979 when it did turn away from Miami. It was 1992 but they were still replaying and complaining about David in 1979. A little secret about Miami is that it rarely gets slammed by a hurricane. They slide by offshore or they slide South and go through the Keys like Irma did but rarely do they slam into Miami. Miami gets lucky always... it's the Magic City.
This part of the Panhandle has always been in the path of poorly formed Tropical Storms and weakening hurricanes that barely have a punch. Opal blew up fast and strong and fell apart just before landfall though it caused a mess. Hermine... Alberto... the list is long of storms that came in not that catastrophic and I'm not even going to talk on Earl. Further to the West near the Alabama border then have seen some strong big storms but usually this part of the country can ride out the storm. Locals have tales where they were at the bar and this strong gust came and............ Honestly heard the same stories over and over when I was in St. George Island in November of 2017. The big hurricanes like Camille and Katrina go West towards the middle part of the GOM almost always. But sometimes ...on any given sunday... a Major Hurricane makes landfall and comes in with the promise that the NHC makes in their forecasts. This is tomorrow guys... not three days away. There isn't much that can happen to stop this though we can hope something does and it's weaker on landfall. Could it be a Category 4? It could... not going to deny that though I think a strong Cat 3 is a given. And some places will feel Cat 2 winds and some other places Cat 1 winds and the whole area is going to be slammed by storm surge and if the forecast verifies it is going to take off like Rocket Man and speed along giving few people a chance to take a last minute precaution. This is not Yo Momma's Storm... this is your storm. It's real and I don't think people are prepared for a real Major Hurricane to come calling.
GFS sees a strong hurricane, moving slower down the road than the other models staying strong as it makes it's road trip across the SE from Florida to the Carolinas. Wednesday landfall, as in tomorrow.
Note Nadine in the Eastern Atlantic.
Leslie holding down her fort in the Mid Atlantic.
Michael making landfall as a Cat 3 Major Hurricane.
Then it keeps on cruising going strong all the way to OBX
Michael hauling TS winds the whole way.
Could that happen?
Sure anything could but not many do.
Odds are on our side.
Prepare in your area accordingly.
Take in those hanging plants....
Your BOO Halloween ornament might take flight...
Worth noting this is in fairly good agreement with the EURO.
Last EURO run.
Second verse ...same as the first.
(remember that song?)
Again these are from www.tropicaltidbits.com
Michael makes landfall on Thursday
952 MB.
Major Cane.
Then moves up over GA and SC
Then exits and is off OBX
Hurricane Strength again?
Can this really play out this way?
Again this is a short term forecast.
3 day forecast not 5 nor 7.
And pointing out what remains below.
Bottom line... another storm could develop.
MOST models show this possibility.
Nadine is in the East Atlantic now.
So if this forms it would be OSCAR.
2018 is a very busy hurricane season.
Well you asked for the models.
Now I have shown them.
My bigger concerns.
1. People just don't understand the cone. I'm sorry I do but most do not. My husband has a friend who lives in the path of Michael and when I say the path I don't mean the cone or the middle of the cone. She lives in a beautiful town across from the water that comes in from the bay and it will funnel up into that area the way the water did in New Bern. She has some disability, been there along time and could evacuate but she is waiting to see if they keep pulling the cone East and then she'd be on the edge of the cone. People do not get the cone. They see the cone as the path of the storm. I understand how they can make that mistake but it's wrong. It's following the winds in the center of the eye. And.....the eye can cross many towns and beaches but only the town or beach at the exact center of the eye will get the official landfall. The water is being pushed all the way towards Louisiana where high tide will be high especially during a King Tide. Along the East coast of Florida and Georgia tides will run higher and along the whole of the Florida Panhandle to the Big Bend the storm surge could be historic and devastating. But because she and another person I spoke to is WEST of the middle of the cone they feel they are safe and it will be okay to ride it out. Someone told me Jim Cantore didn't come to their town :(
No words.
If you are in the cone or have a watch or warning it's there to tell you to watch out and be warned.
There is a disconnect how people comprehend the cone in their mind.
Both people are within the red part of the cone at landfall.
But they are on the left edge of it....
The cone is about wind, center of the eye.
Dangers exist outside this region.
And just because other storms fell apart or made a hard right..
..doesn't mean Michael will.
2. Tornadoes are a massive threat. Especially with this set up where a cold front is racing out of the West towards the area where Michael is making landfall so you have winds from the West mixing with winds from the South and SW (bad) and add in the old wild card off the E coast of Florida pushing in from the E and add that up and you get the need for things to spin within the overall system known as Michael. You get fast moving, deadly tornadoes that appear out of nowhere and rush off fast. People die in hurricanes always from random tornadoes in distant bands. The discussion is in wind speed and being a Major Hurricane and storm surge but the tornado could get you even if you are far outside the cone. More on this later in the blog below so keep reading.
Flash Flooding concerns inland.
Trees crashing down taking out electric.
Hopefully not killing people but...
...pretty sure this name is going down not to be used again.
3. The convergence of moisture from the remnants of Leslie that spun off of it days ago and continued moving towards Florida (remember all those "what's that area off of Florida's East Coast" questions you have been asking? That area is approaching from the East... you can see it above... rain coming in ahead of Michael that then links up with the moisture in Michael and the front pushing in from the West at a rapid pace moving East. That area is already causing rain along the Florida Georgia border and as it spreads up into the Carolinas ahead of Michael and then with Michael you have more chances for tornadoes and more chances for trees in wet soil to tip over and either crash into a home killing someone or luckily just knocking out their power. This is a bad set up. See the image I made below.
See that becomes an additional battleground.
Yes it's moving fast.
It will clear out.
Temperatures will be cooler...
...should you lose electric that's good.
Please keep this in mind below.
*Note TD 15 Formed in the East Atlantic.
Forecast to be Nadine.
At the end of this blog more info on Leslie too.
As for Michael above.
That's precision within a hurricane.
A strong 100 MPH Hurricane Michael.
On it's way to being Major Hurricane Michael.
I am posting today's track next to yesterday's track.
Doing this because people keep asking on changes.
Rarely do you get so much agreement by models.
And the NHC track maintains it's cone.
There are always wobbles within the track.
That's why they don't make one single line.
Major hurricanes often wobble as they move.
But the track is set in stone.
BUT... pay ATTN ALL DAY in N FL for Twisters.
This is and has been a huge threat yet...
no one is talking on it that much.
Local weather people are...
...again watch your local weather people.
Classic set up as the "wild card" moves inland..
.... Michael moves NNW
Front moves in.
You get a collision zone for Tornadoes.
Duval County just had a Tornado Warning
And as for Michael this is the 3 day forecast below.
You can get a real feel for what that part of Florida is like...
... it's beautiful but it will be a mess to clean up.
Prepare or give money to the Red Cross Now.
Both are important!
As for Nadine...
Yeah that's happening.
So much for a quiet 2018 Hurricane Season.
That went whoosh out the window.
Leslie still there.
Stacking up the ACE statistics.
TD 15 below.
Far away.
Nothing to worry on today.
Down the road I have some questions...
Oh and Leslie is going home.
She had a plan all along.
I'll update around Noonish.
Besos BobbiStorm
@bobbistorm on Twitter
Ps... Again.
Never judge a hurricane season until it's in the rear view mirror.... never judge it in May or June or even July until it starts going in late August and September and a busy October. Song stuck in my mind, sharing it with you now. Florence made it across the Atlantic at a high latitude all the way to landfall despite SAL, dry air and shear. Michael developed into a 100 MPH hurricane in the GOM against all logic battling shear. You really always got to worry about those storms that don't die when it seems like they should.... like Andrew... the Camille (a CV wave that didn't develop until Caribbean) you just go with them, watch them, do what you can to warn people and well how do you like them now? Bits of KIRK are wrapped up in Michael, they aren't talking on it but bits of convection that never died out are wrapped up into Michael and that part of Leslie that got flung off her days ago is heading towards hooking up with Michael as it moves across North Florida today on a collision course with the front and Michael. You can't make this stuff up... but it happens.
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