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!
Tuesday, October 29, 2019
Gulf Moisture Swept Up By the Approaching Front... Halloween Around the Corner. Then Comes November... Do You Like Candy Corn?
Only official game in town.
It's actually Invest 99L but...
...not being advertised.
Just being watched.
Ships at sea and all that.
It's pretty. Very there.
NHC doesn't seem to care.
So just pointing it out for posterity sake
The moisture in the GOM is shown below.
I didn't talk much on it.
It was obviously not going to get a name.
It's a player in the game.
Oomphs up the moisture in the next front.
It's a component of weather ahead for the South.
This is the pattern.
This is the purpose of Gulf moisture currently.
And it's good because many places need rain.
North Carolina needs it badly.
Just tropical moisture being swept up fast in the flow towards the cold front moving across the US on it's way towards bringing me a bit of cooler weather (in theory) as those in the North are getting the threat of snow, ice and those in the South are getting rain. We are having Fall mornings and summer like days as the thermometer climbs at Noon. I'd complain but friends in Florida are complaining about temperatures still in the low 90s so I'll shut up on complaining about the low 80s.
We all see weather personally.
We look from our own perspective.
Or maybe we check where our parents live..
....or our children.
Or where we want to travel to next.
Raleigh expecting a low of 38 on Friday.
Says 73 today but trust me will be higher.
Every day we surpass the projected high.
Nights are beautiful.
In California winds are gusting hurricane strength.
...where it was as I'd know the place in my dreams.
Sepulveda Pass on the 405 Freeway.
Winds can bring drought, rain or famine.
The many sides of weather and the atmosphere.
So that's it for today.
I have things to do.
And places to go.
And nothing calling to me tropically.
KYAAR is doing things on the other side of the world.
Beautiful to watch and many are....
and the beat goes on.
Amazingly, this year's record breaking North Indian Ocean hurricane season isn't over after #Kyarr. A monsoon depression currently near Sri Lanka will likely trigger another cyclone right on #Kyarr's heels and become #Maha, potentially threatening the Arabian Peninsula next week. pic.twitter.com/I777n7oXTZ
Updated. Tornado Warning Sugar Land Texas... Storm System Headed Towards Houston Now Tornado Watch UP---. Halloween and Wicked Weather in the South Coming to Your State Soon ... What's Your Favorite Candy? What's Your Favorite Costume? Twister Movies... And Hollywood Inspiration
Really feels like some sick joke.
A Tornado Warning in Sugar Land Texas on Halloween.
Lot's of tricks Mother Nature has up her sleeve.
This storm is moving towards the Houston area now.
As for me I spent the day at the Mall.
Very early holiday shopping.
Big family....gotta start early!
I may go as an Angel for Halloween ;)
Oh and I voted
* * *
This is foreshadowing..........
But this post is really about Halloween.
Halloween and the movies...
And weather... of course.
A kind of cult classic. You either love it or hate it. But everyone loves to be scared by movies with tornadoes in them. People who won't watch "thriller movies" will sit spellbound through movies with mean tornadoes that rain down hail or metal and as long as the twister is spinning people are mesmerized.
Why I don't know. Don't blame it on Twister, blame it on the Wizard of Oz that held a generation spellbound and then held their children spellbound as well. Was it the "yellow brick road" or the "bluebirds flying?" or the "wicked witch of the west" an iconic forever symbol of a wicked witch. Of course Glinda is always the good witch, but that's not how most people dress up for Halloween.
In vivid color and ruby shoes Dorothy and Toto entered a world where they were protected by the Scarecrow and her other friends from the Wicked Witch of the West.
In 1996 a movie was made with special effects that made the sounds of the Twister come alive and with some comedy, romance and a measure of terror audiences were held spellbound once again. And thousands of kids went online into weather chat rooms looking to be meteorologists. True too. Most didn't but some did and the legacy continues. Listen to that Twister growl... sounds you would normally hear in an old classic like "The Birds" but this was Mother Nature showing her mean side.
Red inside is green is NOT good.
This coming week Mother Nature may once again show her mean side along the Deep South and along the Gulf of Mexico states as warm air rushes up to meet a cold front. It won't have a "name" but it may produce tornadoes and severe weather and in some places it's possible it will come in the dark of the night.
Wouldn't it be lovely if Superman could save the day and protect us from Mother Nature when she's in a bitchy, witchy mood the way he saved us time and again from Lex Luthor? Lex Luthor always trying to control the weather, because he knew if you could control the weather it gives you the ultimate edge.
In truth Weather People try to save you all the time, but until the sky begins to get dark, the wind starts to blow and your App or WhatsApp goes crazy no one takes them seriously :(
One thing I learned in North Carolina is that for some odd reason.... nighttime tornadoes happen in Raleigh more than any other time of the day. Kind of the reverse of in Camelot where it only rains at Midnight. And in parts of the South severe weather could be a big problem, yet everyone is thinking on Hurricane Season leaving us and Winter arriving soon on the scene. This Autumn may end up being the Twister Season that went whoosh with the wind this past Spring when they usually appear out on the Plains. But in the Fall that happens also, as warm Gulf of Mexico air rushes up towards diving fronts and when there is a strong Southern Jet setting up .... get ready because we may have an Autumn to remember with dangerous weather.
Hurricanes don't work as well in most movies as do Earthquakes and Tornadoes.
Watch the weather carefully this Autumn and while you are watching perhaps the 2018 Hurricane Season will squeeze out one last storm somewhere.
Something to think on while eating candy or drinking punchy drinks or dressed up as your favorite Super Hero. Does anyone dress up as Kryptonite I wonder? Isn't it funny that it's green like the Emerald City? And the planet probably blew up when some bad guy like Darth Vader who hit Alderan with the Death Star that actually was green and then the planet exploded in a million pieces.
Where would Halloween be without Hollywood and candy?
Have a wonderful time wherever you are and whatever you do even if you sit up at home watching old movies or listening to broadcasts of the War of the Worlds. Really the day before Halloween and no one wondered on that? Hmnnn It was a different world. The biggest "fake news story" of them all.
Whatever world you are in today and tonight enjoy it. And watch out for severe weather approaching as it will. Oscar is off to see the Wizard faster than a speeding bullet and wicked weather is coming to the South over the next few days. Be prepared for it. Party today, prepare tomorrow!
Besos BobbiStorm
Ps ... as for me... maybe a flapper or maybe Cat Ballou. Lord knows the shoe fits :) Would anyone realize I was Cat Ballou? Yeah, someone would. Either way it's about having fun. Fun is good. There's another things in the world that are not fun. Today is a good day to have fun. 50 seconds or so in one of my favorite scenes... iconic! Ha!
January Thaw on East Coast. How Will It Last? Illusions, Music, Parties in Israel. Henna Party...
Let's start with the weather today!
There is some snow still in New England.
But not very many other places on the East Coast.
As we can see from the sites on Spaghettimodels.com ...
No snow today but over the next five days a bit more.
Mostly in the West coast but that will move East in time?
That frost/freeze line inches North again.
It will in time descend again towards the South.
It's a seasonal dance that goes on every year.
If you want snow go to Colorado or Maine
That simple.
Also the storms in the NW continue.
Rivers in the atmosphere dancing.
Spinning, turning, twisting, moving.
In the North Atlantic is a tightly wound storm.
Not a hurricane but a strong low pressure system.
Watch it spin on the water vapor loop.
So I'm going to point out the obvious here first and discuss the weather. You know the "January Thaw" going on in North America ....that continent far away from where I am typing this in Israel. January thaw means you will thaw out and then as it implies it's gone again. It's a temporary illusion of Spring, before the snow falls and coats everything in white again.
Illusions are funny. I've always been nervous when my kids were in Israel and I worry a lot as most parents do. I do feel safe and yet I know that's an illusion much like thinking winter is over. Then again anything can happen to you anywhere. At moments I think "what if" while here and then I push the thoughts away as fast as they come. Like that saying "dance as fast as you can" I just keep going and listening to music, watching the sunlight and wishing the houses had more insulation as 50 degrees here feels like 70 in Raleigh.
Many online have put out forecasts for this coming Hurricane Season based on the predictions concerning El Nino or no El Nino and I'm just not going to play that game. Honestly, it's way too soon to tell. There is a "warming" much like the "January Thaw" going on in the Pacific and if the recent past is a good measure it's worth waiting to see what it is like in April. The La Nina appeared and disappeared just as fast and can reappear as again as well. Maybe this is a "Neutral" year which really should be called "Normal" but nothing is normal about tropical weather forecasting.
Just too soon to tell and for me to start to wax poetic on any predictions would be as reliable as if I posted an astrological forecast for this coming year based on the positions of Jupiter and when it moves into Scorpio or if Saturn is in Sagittarius square Mercury at some point. I know how many of you would feel if I did that. Saying what June will be like today is more like guesstimating or wish casting for me to give a prediction currently based on a not reliable El Nino or La Nina signal. Understand? I mean I'm sure there is some Gypsy tea leaf reader here in Israel, as there are people from everywhere, but I'm not going to read tea leaves nor am I going to predict next season by weak signals currently inconsistent. As the old magic 8 ball says...................."ask again later"
I'm cold. I keep saying that but I've been told it's the lack of good insulation and that makes me think the summers here must be hot. But, it's a beach city here with a good breeze constantly blowing so that breeze must be nice in the summer.
As for me I went to a party last night for my daughter the bride known as a "Mikvah Party" or a "Henna Party" depending on how you look at it and in this case I'd say we had a Mikvah Party with Henna at the end. Henna is for good luck and I'm not in an European area but here there are mostly Jews from Arabic and Persian countries and their customs are different than what you see in say Brooklyn. Persians do the Henna Party which is a custom. We don't paint henna, but it's smeared at the end of the party on your hand and you leave it on for about five minutes or more before washing it off before it dyes your hand. It smells heavenly as it's made from Henna stuff... (looked like dark whole wheat flour) and a tea made with what we would think of as spices for Pumpkin Spice Latte. Heavy on the cinnamon and cloves and Lord knows what else was in it. So... the house now smells from the spicy mixture as if someone spilled a gallon of Chai Tea onto the floor last night.
They place candles in the henna in a bowl.
Then dance around with the bowl distributing the henna.
It was a lot of fun. A few of my daughters were in town as was the baby grandson. Other's were changing planes in Rome or Istanbul so my mind was at times elsewhere until they arrived safely in Israel. Of course suspending all concerns about being in Israel and happy they are out of the Istanbul airport. Priorities ya know... We danced to mostlu Sephardi music (sounds like a cross between Belly Dancing and Spanish Jazz) and I learned a few new dance steps that were Yemenite and looked really Arabic. I'm pretty sure most the dance moves are the same, but what do I know? I used a few of my Bollywood moves and they were very impressed. I know that as they started clapping their hands and doing this "LALALALALA" thing they do and it sounded a lot like "OLE OLE" in Hebrew. But its hard to keep up with them as they are always dancing and the music is ALWAYS playing here and they all dance beautifully. The older generation listens to Hebrew songs and the younger generation learns English from Beyonce and JLO. Really.
There was of course a lot of food and I'm praying the dress fits as I have yet to find the exact phrase that means "I'm sorry it looks really delicious but I'm trying not to eat carbs or anything fattening until after the Wedding when I'll eat ...really" but the next thing I know a plate filled with chicken or fish or hummus is in my hands and let's all pray I didn't gain 20 pounds in five days. My sons have eaten and traveled their way through Israel on tours where they walked enough to impress their Fitbits and well suits are so much more forgiving than gowns. I understand why people wear robes in the Middle East...............
Before the party I took a walk for some exercise.
There's a "Shuk" down the block. Think store..
I actually bought some as well as pistachio halvah.
Late in the day when it's not as busy.
Where am I?
Hard to keep remembering.
Even the Hebrew sounds strange.
So many accents....
Candy, jams and much labeled in Russian.
These pictures were taken a few blocks away as I was walking over to the marketplace called the Shuk here in Netanya. They have a bigger, fancier one in Jerusalem that is a real tourist attraction as well as where the locals shop. In Netanya it's more for the locals and while walking through it just a few blocks from the fancy hotels you feel like you might be in Turkey or Romania but it's Netanya. Note that much here is in Russian as well as Hebrew, Arabic and English so you kind of feel like it's a Mini Russia. Big fancy, shmancy condo going in there. Views from the higher floors will be water views as the beach is a few blocks away.
There is a tremendous amount of construction going on here. Feels a bit like Miami where they knock down most of the block and rebuild. And there are hibiscus as in Miami Beach. Where am I?
Olive Oil in Israel. Extra Virgin in English....
This part of the market looks like I could be in Brooklyn.
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
