UPDATED! Tornadoes in the South - Snow Storms - Winter Storms - Snow Threatens Peach Trees Hit by Hurricane Florence in the Carolinas. Women in Meteorology.

Our power lines are under these two massive trees... debris is basically everywhere. Sirensare still blaring everywhere. The cliche of it sounds like a freight train coming is no joke. #tornado pic.twitter.com/lXJZX6Lrsz

— Scott Fillmer (@scottfillmer) March 3, 2019

http://www.wsfa.com/2019/03/03/fatalities-reported-after-tornadoes-hit-lee-county/

Good video close up of storms exploding on this loop. 

1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector #GOES16 Visible images + SPC storm reports over #ALwx and #GAwx: https://t.co/TTGPNo3pT1 pic.twitter.com/C4IsKceLTs

— Scott Bachmeier (@CIMSS_Satellite) March 3, 2019

The death toll could climb as they are still looking for people who are missing and going through the debris. This evening is far from over as for wicked weather and even more wicked cold will arrive later this week. I've said it over and over because the pattern seems to be stuck and severe weather keeps training over the same area in the Florida Panhandle that was slammed by Hurricane Michael up into areas that flooded from Florence. This does not bode well for early season development this hurricane season in the Gulf of Mexico and off the SE coast when Subtropicals are prone to form close to the coast. Just saying it's something to remember.

I've been following on Twitter all afternoon.

Out shopping, raining but not heavy.

But the heavy weather is on the way.

Currently down in the Deep South.

The same area affected by Hurricanes Michael and Florence...

That flash of color is the latest lightning data.

It should move into NC later tonight.

NC is prone to night time tornadoes.

Stay tuned and pay attention to your Weather Apps

Any watches or warnings take seriously!

Wild action tonight.

http://en.blitzortung.org/live_lightning_maps.php?map=30

Mother Nature is kicking off Tornado Season in the South today!

Mother Nature isn't taking any prisoners tonight.

Cell phone towers down.

Saloons ripped apart.

From the Twitter feed on SpaghettiModels

Showing this as it's a great place to go to get instant weather news.

If you aren't on Twitter and are old school...

...it's a great resource.

This is as typical as it gets when Spring comes early.

And then Winter sneaks back in...

Cold diving air mixing with warm humid air.

Bamn! Twisters form.

look at that flow of moisture...

Gulf of Mexico Moisture.

Keep reading.

I'll update later in real time.

* * *

I posted this picture on February 17th....

... a beautiful pink array of blossoms on a nearby tree.

Below is out my window this morning.

Note the gray, white skies are a constant.

The maple tree has new baby red leaves on it.

Signs of Spring but it feels like Winter.

Where we are today with regard to weather.

Winter Weather to be exact!

Note how low the snow dips down into Arkansas.

All sliding East.

And there's another system behind it!

A lot of weather warnings there.

Red alert day for many places.

Being honest here, trying to watch national weather is at times hard when you are between seasons in the Carolinas and only really want to know one or two things.

What time is it going to start to rain today?
Is there any chance for snow flakes on the tail end of the next system?

Extra Credit: Is this going to mess up the fruit trees that started to bloom already?

Cantore brought it up also on TWC.

It's worth remembering those trees will be wet from rain.

Then cold, cold temperatures blow in on a strong wind.

Perhaps there is even a chance of a drop of snow?

Who knows?

Mother Nature seems to work in real time this year.

GFS may be beating the EURO with this one.

The local weather people have been talking on this or more so worrying on this as a possibility. Trees they be a blooming. My maple tree is unfurling it's leaves inch by inch, day by day, still in the red mode and it always amazes me it turns bright green eventually; kind of like those blonde hair little boys I had whose hair turned almost black as they got in their twenties.

Wednesday morning we have a forecast low of 21 and that's going to take a bite out of some of those early blooming trees.  When people plant early and are told it's too soon they were warned. But the blooming of trees early after warm weather is something that cannot be controlled and it has happened this year after a very warm February and now with a cold March coming into areas already hit hard by Hurricane Florence may be hit again by Mother Nature on the rampage with freezing temperatures hurting the peach crop. It's not just the peace crop but areas under the gun for severe weather today and freezing temperatures this week are in peach country.

Again it's not all about whether New York City gets snow or if Boston is snow satisfied ... it's a big country we live in and every place has their own wishes for the weather they want and concerns they will get the weather they don't want.  My daughter wants the snow to stop and for things to warm up however moving up to Pomona Heights area vs living down in Bayswater on the water has changed her weather watching from watching the high tides that flooded her street to "how much snow am I getting?" and this girl has been watching weather for years and years. So obviously I watch her and whoever she likes weather wise...   https://www.instagram.com/dinadeehoops/

So Dina said I have to follow Amy Freeze...

...so I did as Dina knows weather.

No we cannot cancel the weather.

The EURO may lose to the GFS.

This may get interesting.

(Wow some huge bird just flew past my window..

...it was white and huge, hold on.

remember to wear coat when going outside...)

Good link to Bernie Rayno on models and forecasts.

Frustration and honesty.

https://www.pscp.tv/w/1PlKQyNlWZNKE

Oddly I have not spoken to Cranky this morning.

And yet he's tweeting on what I'm thinking about.

So who is this incredible woman below?

This is a must read article about a woman who went into meteorology early on and had to balance family needs and her own need for a degree in meteorology. Motherhood is wonderful, really, but it ends up always being a balancing act trying to be a good mother and following your own dreams. Women like her rarely get movies made about them and rarely does anyone hear about them but they were brave, stubborn and followed their dreams. We should hear more about them.

https://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/the-untold-story-of-june-bacon-bercey-the-first-american-women-to-become-a-tv-meteorologist/70007375

My daughter Dina who I've mentioned watches different women meteorologists I rarely hear about and she of course watches them on Instagram. My daughter had dyslexia when young that she did overcome and eventually attained a Bachelors Degree from Touro University with her younger sister back in 2012. They are both awesome, but no teacher in elementary school or middle school ever expected Dina to go to college let alone graduate and she did so with great grades. She had a dream, but more so she had a goal and she didn't give up. How many people reading this have a dream but don't even try pursuing it or make only lists of reasons they could never do that? I never broke her spirit for good or bad. She dropped out of high school in the 9th grade and went to work for the principal's wife as a teacher's aid in her preschool. She traveled the world, the country to music festivals and went to Venice on her 25th birthday with her best friend because she wanted to.... and she went back to college after getting an online high school degree because her mother (me) begged her to and I may have tricked her into it but hey she's got a diploma! To be honest I thought she'd switch schools and maybe go to Art School, but no she stayed with college studying psychology and art getting one of the first degrees from Touro with an emphasis on multi-media art. My kids, all of them, always inspire me and trying to explain how during the quiet off season when no tropical waves are rolling across the Atlantic and forecast to get a name and become hurricanes.  Welcome to my "off season" here...

And because I did follow Amy Freeze

In a serendipity kind of way I learned more today.

What a story. 

I cannot believe anyone birthed 16 children.

And I've birthed many so for me to be shocked...

...and yet despite the large family she kept going.

What a story really. 

Please follow Amy Freeze.

My daughter Dina is right indeed.

Down in Carolina watching snow forecasts for up the coast.

How close will it get.

I said the other day I expect Roxboro will get snow flakes.

Watching the models and the loops.

Women can do anything.

I bought my granddaughter Olivia a tee shirt that says that.

But mothers have to work twice as hard at least.

Life is balance in ways.

I'm sure it's hard for men too...

But they don't have to go to college ...

with a baby kicking in their tummy.

Men don't have to fight off morning sickness...

...men don't have to deal with postpartum depression.

Another weather person Dina loves below.

And I saw this today about a young woman...

...following her dream.

Happy to he the "weekend meteorologist" in Panama City.

Panama City got Hurricane Michael.

It also got rain all winter.

Wondering on what this hurricane season will bring.

Someone to follow as she follows her dream.

https://twitter.com/BrittneyBwx

What's my dream?

Oh I keep my dreams and secrets private.

Maybe I'll spend this week reviewing my dreams.

What are your dreams?

Take care, be happy and be wise.

Choose wisely and never give up.

Or as Reed Timmer says never stop chasing.

I'll add never stop doing .... 

dreaming is good but doing is better ;)

Looks like Brittney is going to busy this Sunday.

Besos BobbiStorm

Still have tropical dreams.....

 but wish I could see some snow flakes!

Ps... For my gal Sue :) who taught me to ... go to the beach talk to the waves.

To suspend reality and just be silly.

To be strong, tough and do what you got to do...

Weekend Weather. Tropics? Taking a Break of Finished? Coastal Storm... GOM. Questions Abound.

Convection in the Caribbean.

Rain lingering along the Texas coast...

... continuing to flow in with a flood alert.

Cold weather clouds off the East coast.

Everyone wants to know what's happening with the weather this weekend and next week but some are wondering on the tropics and others are wishing for a snow storm. It's that time of year we start watching the Troposphere to see what may be coming down our way.

Cranky watches up above.

He lives up north.

DaBuh watches down below.

He lives Down South.

In reality we watch the troposphere...

...because what develops there and dips down...

... becomes the steering currents in the tropics.

What goes around comes around.

DaBuh loves to say that...

...it's true.

It can lift a hurricane up towards landfall...

...or it can sweep one away from landfall.

Currently there are no hurricanes forecast to form.

This time of year things can pop up fast so we watch.

But rain is forecast to fall and fall and fall.

This Fall of 2018 

With or without a name Texas gets rain.

The image above is from www.windy.com

They are awesome and they get better and better.

You can switch from wind to rain.

Windwise nothing really develops.

An area tries to close off..

But doesn't really...

Epac is active.

And a storm could form off the Carolinas.

But the easy money is on off the tip of Long Island

South New England.

Old school model view.

That's for NEXT weekend.

If that plays out.

I predict people will start using fireplaces soon.

Carolinas and Virginia in for cold weather.

Front would reach down into Florida.

One thing that is certain is cool air is moving down.

The AC in my house is obviously set perfect.

But the AC is not on... 

Mother Nature is providing the cool air.

Love it.

I really love it.

And a short plug for the NC State Fair.

If you live round here...

Go.. enjoy it. 

Saturday may be a wash out.

Sunday the last day will be beautiful.

It's just fun to walk around and enjoy being outside.

What you do is not as important as that.

You can enjoy being outside again.

Eat an Ice Cream or something fried.

Fair weather is fair.

Not too hot. 

Not too cold.

As for the forecast.

Here's the 3 day.

Mike has it up on www.spaghettimodels.com

Scroll down he's got so much there.

He adds snow maps in during Winter.

One of the best measures of what is happening.

It changes in real time like the forecast.

Here's the link below:

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

It changes in real time because.......

...weather is fluid and always changing.

The above is actually reflected in this link below:

http://tropic.ssec.wisc.edu/real-time/mtpw2/product.php?color_type=tpw_nrl_colors&prod=natl&timespan=120hrs&anim=anigf

The flow goes FAST across the Caribbean....

...into the GOM.

Where it mingles with leftovers from the EPAC

And creates a rainy set up that goes on and on.

A front flies off the East coast.

Watch that dry air race off the Carolinas.

Oh my goodness yes...

I'd turn the AC up cause it's cold but...

...the AC isn't on that's just cool air getting in here.

Got my velvet sweat pants from Victoria's Secrets on :)

Short sleeve top in a matching color.

We are moving bit by bit into Autumn.

Took off the hot pink nail polish...

..tried a new color Burnished Bronze.

It looked like a Fall Shade ;)

Patchy frost possible on Monday... 

Brrr for Bronze.

As for the tropics until that flow stops flowing...

We need to watch the Caribbean.

And any stalled out cold fronts that linger.

That means the GOM and off the FL coast as well.

Late October and early November can produce hurricanes.

On this day in history... Wilma did the Yucatan.

A few days later she did Florida.

She caught a cold front.

Some people stop watching the tropics after the first good cold front goes through Florida and simply say things like "it's all zonal" and what they mean is if they aren't getting any huge CV Hurricanes they don't care and aren't chasing any subtropical or hybrid storm. I'm not that person. I watch with one eye on the tropics and one eye up at the North Pole. No ... not looking for Santa though might be wondering what Superman is doing up there hiding out but he's probably just enjoying the snow. Everyone wants to know about snow or a hurricane, but the reality is that weather happens in between in places that wish they could get rid of the weather. Texas for example is so stuck in a wet pattern and that's common this time of year some years. Caribbean moisture is still moving up towards the Gulf or Mexico and there's much rain but not a lot of spinning going on. No name storms wash out bridges, destroy WHOLE small communities built in the cheaper low lands close to where people work and they get no press. But tropical destinations along the coasts that have destruction get lots of press. You could say it's not the same but it is and it's a matter of perspective. If your community was washed away by a Flash Flood that wasn't even on the radar the night before when you were decorating for Halloween and putting together a few things for Christmas presents it's the same devastating, horrific catastrophe. Oh you heard a neighborhood of trailers were destroyed so you think somehow that it's not as big as a beach front home that looks like the beach front home you always dreamed of... 

A statistic I read this morning said that 30 to 50% of the people in the path of Hurricane Michael live within the poverty range. That might be higher in the part of North Carolina flooded out by rain from Hurricane Florence. To the people who live in the trailer parks and work in the farmland in Florida, Georgia, Carolinas and Texas from the No Name storm they lost their homes and their jobs. I was told it takes a good fifteen years for a pecan orchard in Texas to really produce, that's a long term disaster for people in those parts and I can bet you money that in five years Panama City will look more beautiful than it ever was before Michael. I know because we went through it in Homestead, some of the poorer areas looked like beautiful suburbs three to five years later as money flowed into the area in the same way devastating hurricanes winds blew in with Andrew. Money flows after a hurricane into some areas and other areas money creeps in and the towns barely come back and the people who lived and worked there pick up and move away. Just inland about 30 minutes from Myrtle Beach or less there are tobacco farms, cotton farms and farms that grown winter wheat and the landscape is filled with small trailer communities on the edges of the farms and small towns that all look the same in that they have a few old beautiful buildings and some store somewhere has been changed into a Chinese Buffet. Drive the back roads someday they are beautiful and an education about what it takes to make a country like the USA. Not everyone lives in the cities and not everyone is rich and owns a beach home or a ski chalet but life is way better here than it is in most places across the world. If your home, trailer or beachfront dream house was destroyed your world was destroyed. Some have good insurance or money put away and will rebuild there or somewhere else and others will simply pick up and move on to some other town where they can make a living and send their kids to school.

Some good local news stories in this link below:

https://www.wral.com/weekend-best-bets-sparkcon-mac-and-cheese-throwdown/17923916/

Or take a drive somewhere out in the country and look at the Fall Foliage or drive down to the coast and spread some money about encouraging life to get back to normal along the coast of North Carolina. Not sure what I am doing this weekend. Maybe staying close to home and watching football or take a long drive somewhere or maybe go to the Farmer's Market for fresh Fall produce that is bountiful this time of year round here. Time will tell. I'll update the blog should anything happen worth updating. If the models start to come on as fast as Jack Frost is nipping at our door I'll post some information on them. Have a great weekend if you are a Red Sox fan and I am .... you'll be wearing your colors and having a smile on your face. I'd play the Fenway Park video but this series shows we can win anywhere even on the road and we have done that before haven't we? I just realized I have a charm not just a bunch of tee shirts and a way too big oversized tank top I sleep in sometimes.

Besos BobbiStorm.

@bobbistorm on Twitter

If you aren't a big Red Sox fan here's another video below.

Ps. Going to put this here and let y'all think on it a bit and let it sink in that being a mother can be empowering and doesn't mean you can't "have a life" and continue doing what you love. Most 1st world and many 2nd and 3rd world countries have had women leaders and they were often at the top of their game without having to worry how to balance careers. Women in both political parties work in Washington while raising children and even being active grandmothers. I like to think God gives mothers an extra measure of strength especially in today's world where mother's work full time and have to balance being a mother and working in careers from Publix to being an Ambassador at the United Nations. Being a mother takes a lot of navigating and often but not always the father's do their share making it all work. But either way... she does a good job and makes a good point. So this is for any young girls out there... you CAN be a METEOROLOGIST and you can work on air or behind the scenes and you can be anything you want to be you just got to work at it hard as success takes hard work and sometimes a measure of luck. Good luck!

UPDATED! 5 PM. Death Toll Rises to 5 from Florence... . Cajun Navy Doing Water Rescues in New Bern. Hurricane Florence Makes Landfall .. Moving Slowly Inland. Raining Now in Raleigh. New Bern Storm Surge Flooding 10 Feet. Rescues Ongoing. Wilmington Area Takes the Brunt of Florence. Where Does She Go Next? And In the End... NY LI SNE and Canada. Flash Flood Warnings. Tornado Warnings

5 PM.

"CATASTROPHIC FRESHWATER FLOODING EXPECTED OVER PORTIONS OF NORTH AND SOUTH CAROLINA...

This is the real problem with Florence.

Yes New Bern flooded ...

..Yes Wrightsville Beach took it hard.

And yes Wilmington was hit hard.

Now the real concern is the fresh water flooding.

If the forecast holds and it rains for days......

...while she moves slowly westward at 3 MPH..

Torrential rains will pound parts of NC/SC for days.

IF so the rivers will rise... 

..and there will be worse flooding than Matthew.

So I want to take you back to another M Hurricane.

Hurricane Mitch was huge and a Cat 5.

Late season hurricane in the Caribbean.

That happens, hopefully won't happen this year.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Mitch

The flooding that claimed the huge loss of life..

..was from inland flooding when he was a TS.

Inland as a Tropical Storm he moved barely at all.

Torrential rain, hills, mudslides, people died.

But this happened when he was a TS not a Cat 5.

So just because Florence is a TS... 

...don't let your guard down inland.

3 MPH...that's a crawl basically.

And as the topography rises inland.

Rains increase and floods become worse.

So stay vigilant.

Also we have tornado warnings currently.

And that should continue all night.

And tomorrow.

Doesn't look much different does it.

Good symmetry!

Good form.

Has a strong core.

Lower winds.

Lots of rain.

Stay tuned....

Leaving the video at the top.

As few waves have gone so far...

...at a high latitude approach to NC.

Amazing video really.

Came on just to share it.

Though I was thinking on posting this below.

Amazing ride and it's not over.

Besos BobbiStorm.

@bobbistorm on Twitter.

I'll update tomorrow evening.

For now going to take a rest.

And we will see what we will see!

Stay safe.

3 people died so far.

I heard 5 but waiting for confirmation.

By that time it could be higher.

Many are being rescued and in shelters.

Praying the rain totals don't verfiy.

Prayer is good but prepare as needed for the worst.

Follow the advice of your local government officials.

West at 5.

Now WSW.

Keep watching.

Also raining in Myrtle Beach as well now.

Pouring heavy in Raleigh now.

A friend lost power nearby.

Tree hit a transformer.

People here really need to understand......

...this is a long term event.

If you don't see the rain you will.

Rivers are cresting.

Towns are flooding.

Cajun Navy in New Bern.

Are they awesome or what?

People helping people.

Orientation of the High Pressure...

...should keep her West bound.

Taking the top side of the Cone perhaps.

Time will tell... 

Big blue band over Raleigh now.

A Flash Flood Warning has been issued for our area.

I'm not in an area that usually floods.

It's very dark out... ominous.

Note www.spaghettimodels.com has great links.

Webcams to storm chasers.

Different areas.

 Know this is only beginning.
Water rescues going on now.

Such a beautiful image below.

Great image here... 

Blue Hurricane...

..crawling her way towards landfall.

You can see the "center" well on this image.

Winds picking up in Raleigh by the way.

We are all watching her general movement..

..carefully with our own priorities.

The images later this week will be flooding.

Water rescues. Tornado damage.

Etc...

Severe damage in Wilmington.

Shown below.

General gust info from NC

She is over land.

Moving very slowly.

Her wind field below.

If you are inside those 2 sets of grids.

You will feel her wind.

Official NHC at 11 AM

Then Updated at Noon.

I waited til Noon to see any changes.

Picking up some speed at 6 MPH.

I'd say she is going west by radar.

Her movement is iffy.

Cranky explains why...

..storms often stair step.

Vs moving in a direct line.

By the way there may be some trouble...

...in the GOM later on down the roead.

Will deal with that after Flo is gone.

Again the tropics are busy ... 

It's not over til it's really over.

Florence has finally made landfall.

Shows you even at 5 MPH you can make landfall ...

...as long as you just keep going you get there.

She made landfall just South of Wilmington.

A community known as Myrtle Grove.

Some video from online.

You may want to subscribe to them.

Awake and watching Florence both on satellite imagery and out the window. She's far away still down by the coast and she has done a good deal of damage in New Bern and on Wrightsville Beach and the associated small beach towns near Wrightsville; remember please that Wrightsville is Wilmington's beach so it's one area separated by a small inlet usually filled with sailboats.  New Bern had the 4th lowest barometer reading they have recorded and the storm surge that flooded parts of downtown was 10 feet at least. They are still dealing with Florence and we will get more exact information throughout the day. The eye slipped South of Wilmington and came ashore near Myrtle Grove which is the area known as Masonboro Inlet. The map is below so you can see where exactly that is but understand the eye is a very small part of a large Category 1 Hurricane still winding down from being a Major Hurricane. This is not to hype Florence, it's to explain it's a different beast from a long term tropical storm that finally attained hurricane force wind.

Myrtle Grove is a suburb of Wilmington.

Again it's the part of NC...

..that looks like it should be in SC.

I spoke on this a few posts back... 

The state borders are a bit squirrelly.

Next we have New Bern.

The Neuse and James River come together there.

It's an inland harbor surrounded by water and forests. 

Pirates loved it back in the day.

It was the capital of NC back in the day.

It brought us Pepsi Cola...

..and it's filled with historical places.

They had a historical storm surge from Florence.

Over ten feet of water came up the river.

As there are hills there the hills are dry.

The lower areas down by the river...

..were under 10 feet of water.

North Carolina has many inlets cities such as New Bern.

The water pushes up the river...

...it becomes compressed and rushes inland..

As the storm presses towards land.

New Bern was on the North side of the eye.

Therefore the storm surge was high there.

Kind of what I feared would happen did.

Obviously I love New Bern.

This is the area you saw going under water on TV.

Note two things about this video.

Even on a quiet day the wind always blows.

She did the video in front of the flag.

Very North Carolina.

If you have read a Nicholas Sparks book...

...he lives there and gains inspiration from it's beauty.

This is the coastline.

Cape Fear and Cape Lookout jut out into the ocean.

So now what you wonder?

Good question.

At 10 AM:

That's what the NHC said.

They also said it doesn't really have an eye.

So I find it an odd "headline" from them.

Either it does or doesn't?

It has a center....

... sure there is an eye there somewhere.

Now....

The water begins to move inland.

It's currently moving 

Big bullseye over the SC/NC border.

And note the rainfall moves North.

After it moves W or WSW it moves North.

And up into the Pennsylvania region.

PA has had problems with flooding all summer.

The rains will be felt up in New York.

I'm guessing Canada may feel some as well.

This weather drama is far from over.

A patch of winds over Long Island and SNE.

Think on that a bit.

So the storm moves West to WSW.

Then pulls North near the mountains.

MTNS = more flooding in small towns

Then once back over water..

..it comes back to life again.

That's the forecast for now.

Obviously it won't be a Major Hurricane.

It might barely become a Tropical Storm.

Who knows for sure...

But it will be heavy rain and strong wind.

It came from Africa.

It's as if Florence doesn't want to stop traveling.

Part of Ottawa is in the cone.

So far the NHC doing a good job.

She slowed...

She's moving generally west now.

Sort of South of West.

Maybe WSW then West.

Then eventually.......

She swings NW and speeds up.

I want to make it clear here that it's hard to really judge a hurricane by one scale or one set of statistics. Academics love to slice and dice the storm into facts and figures and debate it's strength from far away in their safe rooms staring at the computer endlessly watching every small change in the shape of the hurricane. I worked in Academia as I ran a library for Touro College in Miami Beach and I know what Academia is and it's a bit removed from the real world. A nice place for people to live and work where they can spend endless hours studying, researching and get paid for it while teaching only a few classes a semester if at all. It's kind of like Oz. Some people love it and it was a good job and I enjoyed it. Storm Chasers are out in the elements with the wind stinging their face, listening to the howl of the hurricane winds and getting sandblasted often by sand picked up from the beach and caught in the wind. It's wild and I've done that too though to be honest talking Tropical Storms and Category 1 hurricanes vs huge Major Hurricanes, as a mother I had responsibilities obviously. One of the windiest storms I was out in was a Tropical Storm that made landfall yet it's winds were nonstop unrelenting for a few hours. Sometimes you get a hurricane and the squalls spin around and come in bands, but no that storm was like being in a wind tunnel. Every storm is different. I've seen hurricanes that weren't as strong as many tropical storms I was in and hurricanes that were wet and caused flooding and others like Andrew raced through leaving barely any traces of rain. Hurricane Irene in Miami was all about the rain.

They keep telling me the rain is coming. I'll believe it when I see it. The weather almost always goes around Raleigh. The snowstorms slide by just to the North and hurricanes slide by to the South of Offshore by the Outer Banks. Time will tell. We have watches up of all kind from a tornado watch to a flash flood warning, as well as we are expecting some Tropical Storm force winds. It's very quiet here and then suddenly it isn't. It's dark and the clouds are moving by very fast and here and there the winds pick up and small twigs and branches from big oak trees go flying in the wind and then........it's quiet again. There are tornadoes in her bands, heavy rain that will come down over the next 48 hours. This is a slow motion disaster not a fast moving Major Hurricane, time will tell how bad it is and where and who gets the worst of the flooding. For now watching and I'll update throughout the day. It just got really dark outside and it's pouring in Raleigh. 

On quiet nice days in New Bern.