Miami Wins & Puts on Fantastic Super Bowl. Iowa Loses... Bets It on an App That Was Broken. Don't Need a Groundhog to Know it's Spring in the South.

What's that song?

There's got to be a morning after?

Oh Snap... it was a Disaster movie :(

Seriously they knew the App had a problem.

Iowa now has a problem.

Let's never use an App to vote okay??

Ironically everyone claimed victory last night.

The weather wasn't a problem.

Technology was a problem.

This is why I don't want to vote on my phone.

I've heard people say "we could vote by App"

Yeah right...no I don't think so.

As a weather person I get it when models mess up.

Or an App promises snow then ..no snow.

Life goes on...

Winter is in the West....

Spring is in the South.

Much rain is on the way in the SE.

And in the NE the candidates have arrived.

#electronics can be frustrating #IowaCaucuses #apps #weather #sats #sigh. We thought we had problems with badly performing weather models https://t.co/XLVVLmtkcS writing ⁦@Shakira⁩ was perfection tho. Great #superbowl pic.twitter.com/YwCW36lVqa

— BobbiStorm (@BobbiStorm) February 4, 2020

Don't you just hate when that happens?

You go to your favorite satellite and it's broken.

Or you wait for the results from Iowa and ... broken.

Well at least for us we change satellites.

For candidates they change states.

#TuesdayThoughts on #IowaCaucuses #SuperBowl2020 #weather #severeweather #spring can #summer & #hurricane #season be far behind? https://t.co/vZ3Rogvgxa pic.twitter.com/TSGl3yjj2i

— BobbiStorm (@BobbiStorm) February 4, 2020

Jim Williams always said I should do videos.

Or maybe he said "talk"

He knows how I talk so ...

...okay he's right it's easier.

Once I got past my fear or talking...

... but basically I prefer writing.

And I love satellite imagery.

Look at that image.... that area in the Southeast is RED HOT and filled with severe weather potential and no one really needs a Groundhog to know which way the temperatures are going right now or if Spring is on the way; actually it's Spring in the South currently as flowers are in bloom. Maybe this is a February Thaw? But unless you are out in the Far West.... the winter that never really showed up is about as far away as the real facts of what happened last night in Iowa.

Again let me say I am an Independent. Yes I was raised a Democrat that has often voted Republican or Democratic depending on the election and the candidates ...though I like to party I'm not a party girl anymore. I wait and see how the election evolves and which candidates are left standing and which candidate I believe has the best chance to lead this country as November nears and Hurricane Season slows down. Yes, between now and the next Presidential Election is the 2020 Hurricane Season but for now ...in the slow season.... I go back to one of my first loves and that is politics. So I looked forward to the Iowa Caucus and the beginning of the real primary season and Oh My Goodness. I've never seen so many professionals paid to speak on air be totally speechless. I sat there last night going back and forth between CNN and MSNBC and oh my goodness. I don't really want to curse on my blog but yeah ...that happened ...

I kept saying during the whole Impeachment Trials "can't we just have an election??" and now I'm thinking ... maybe not. No seriously, as "Mayor Pete" said you could see for yourself what was going on at the Caucus and in my words who was hot and who was not. You could see those enthused about Warren or Amy and the Bernie people were on the floor and Yang Gang insisting they weren't going to vote for anyone but Yang (many then drifted away) and the Biden crowd was extremely thin at some of the venues yet always cheerful people would come around on the next count or the next... No, I don't think that happened. But maybe we will never know for sure and that's sad for the Democratic Party coming off of a horrendous 2016 where it was obvious they tried to skew the election towards their favorite candidate and many Bernie people felt it was stolen from him .... but we may never know for sure. But you could learn a lot from watching the various people who showed up to caucus for their favorite candidates and often hear who their 2nd favorite candidates were if they did not get enough to be viable.

Amazingly as we approached the Super Bowl on Sunday there was much talk about how the whole show would go seeing as it was held in Miami and you know all those "Because Miami" news stories on Twitter. People worried on terrorism or Coronavirus or some technological glitch happening. Would the actual game live up to it's expectations? (Yes it did!) and would the Half Time be a huge flop or would they pull it off? Yes, they did.. the two Latin Divas Nailed it swaying their hips, filled with emotion and passion holding most people mesmerized putting on one of the best Super Bowl Halftime Shows of all time. Okay, I'm from Miami and maybe I'm prejudice but I've loved Shakira since she first hit the scene. I studied dance and that includes Bollywood and Belly Dance and she is soo good as a performer. JLO is JLO an Icon who seems to transcend age being 50 years old holding her own up against a 43 year old Shakira celebrating her birthday in front of the world. Come on that's drama. And the game with the QB from Tyler Texas..... showing passion and leading his team from behind to victory!

So I never got around to blogging about the incredible football game Sunday as Monday was a blur for me as I tried to get the song out of my head and then finally gave up. I looked forward to the Iowa Caucus and the official start of the 2020 Presidential Election and.... well the new fancy App that they many were worried on worked about as badly as the GFS when it shows a major Cat 6 Landfall of a hurricane in Miami for a weak tropical wave rolling off of Africa in July. All of us in the weather world know how models can mess up and how really bad weather apps can be so are we really surprised? Okay, yeah I'm a bit surprised but Iowa has a history of problems. Santorum who actually once won the Iowa caucus despite the fact that they said Romney did and unable to gain any traction on that win ... we didn't find out who won until I believe the South Carolina Caucus and by that time anyone who knows anything about how hurricanes spin knows momentum is important.

It's not the first time Iowa messed up.

Both headlines above were right...

...but on different days.

Remember when.....

Trust me momentum is huge.

Whoever won or did well last night.

Would like that momentum going into NH.

So this seems to be a developing story.

I'm watching TV in the background.

Yes I watch the TV.

While watching the Twitter Feed....

....Twitter of course says "conspiracy" 

And there's great GIFS going around.

Life goes on...

CNN broke away to the Coronavirus just now.

MSNBC talking on "the process"

FOX the end of the "impeachment process"

So what can I say that I haven't said? Shakira rocks and perhaps the crew that gave you the Super Bowl without any major problems should have been in charge of the show in Iowa?

As for me I'm going to move on with my day. It's forecast to be 70 degrees in Raleigh and yes I have my sandals ready to use today and the hope for snow in Raleigh is fading into the background as I watch the never ending flow of moisture from the Gulf of Mexico into the Deep South as snow edges it's way towards Oklahoma after pounding the West that has been pounded all Winter as people in the East insist Winter didn't show up. 

As for New Hampshire .... the candidates are showing up there and the show will go on.

Stay safe... wash your hands ;) Always be prepared for severe weather.... Take it one day at a time and know that before this is over I'm sure there will be about odd story that crops up during this interesting Primary Season that collides with Spring Training and moves us day by day closer to predictions on the 2020 Hurricane Season. Seeing as the predictions for this Winter were horrible I'm not rushing to make any predictions but one thing I will remind you is that flow continues and the pattern of systems off the SE Coast continues the way it did during the Hurricane Season of 2019 except it's been winter like storms enhanced with the flow from the Gulf of Mexico. 

And the beat goes on..... 

Stay tuned.

This is all a developing story in Iowa.

Weather wise... I'm going to enjoy the warm weather.

Going to Seattle later this month....

...where Winter is still holding on strong.

Besos BobbiStorm

@bobbistorm on Twitter and Instagram

Ps... my real favorite Shakira song ;)

Philadelphia Eagles Win the Super Bowl! Foles Enjoys the Victory Along With Most of America. Life Lessons Learned From Football

The times they are a changing....

It's been a long time.

Philadelphia Eagles won the World Series.

Foles believed.

The Eagles believed.

The Eagles won!

Brady didn't pull out a victory.

As someone said...

...time ran out.

But in truth the Eagles played hard.

The Eagles played a perfect game.

Despite injuries....

...they played and they won!

People say a young hot team that's never been there before cannot win in the Super Bowl as there is just something about THE SUPER BOWL but on any given Super Bowl Sunday rules can be broken. Speaking of rules there were very few penalties in a well played aggressive game with few punts and pretty much any possession of the ball led to a score of some kind. It was the type of game people who love offense love and I do. For those who say defense wins games it's worth saying the defense on both sides often held teams to a Field Goal. It was a great game all around.

Often Super Bowls are one sided boring games where commentators look back at other games that led up to the Super Bowl while one side pours on the score higher and higher while the other team looking beaten has failure in their eyes as they stare at the clock wishing it would be over sooner; not this time when time moved fast and furious. 

A really great game. Yes as I'm a Miami Dolphins fan I really don't like New England. In some of the darkest worst seasons Miami has had fans have taken brief refuge in the glow of beating New England. But to tell you the truth I like the Eagles. My oldest daughter lived there for several years so I took to rooting for them. And, who can't root for a player like Foles who is centered and focused and not so easily rattled? As the video below explains "time of possession" often wins games and time management assures a win more than a "2 minute drill" ability to try and catch up that many quarterbacks have been famous for as they try to eek out a victory. Possession is the game and when you use time wisely you never have to play catch up.

And lastly there was this sense of "no excuses" as their team had many injuries including their star quarterback but won with a back up quarterback that many teams in the league would not have put on their roster. The investment of Foles as a back up quarterback may have been their wisest decision in years. Earl Morrall may have gotten the Miami Dolphins to the Super Bowl but Bob Griese played in the big games. Morrall was the work horse but Griese got the glory. Ironically Brady won the Super Bowl as a back up quarterback showing how irony always rubs salt into the wound. Yes the times they are a changing.

The truth is having someone you trust to have your back and to be there when you need them is one of the most valuable choices we make in life not just in football. Often when young strength, charm and charisma steals the show and though they often win the game in college their fail later in life when playing in the NFL. But finding someone who can go the distance despite injuries and finding ways to overcome the hard times is what makes a great team player or life partner. We learn much from football that can also be applied to the game of life.

So for all those Philly fans who love Rocky and love when an under dog plays hard and wins the big game.... I'm smiling.

Besos BobbiStorm

@bobbistorm on Twitter

Ps... Back to weather tomorrow. Oh did I mention there is a storm system moving east again that will drop temperatures but today the rain has ended and the sun has come out and it's time to shine and enjoy the sweet victory that most of America was rooting for or possibly in this case against another New England win. It's a new day and the times they are a changing.

Super Bowl Sunday. A Look Back at Miami's Super Bowl and Some Miami History - Musing on the Magic City. Hurricane Seasons & Cold Winters. Will 2018 Be a Busy Hurricane Season? History Would Answer Yes!

https://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/frigid-air-to-pour-over-minneapolis-as-eagles-patriots-square-off-in-super-bowl-52/70004045

Funny.

When I was little in the 1960s..

I thought Super Bowls would always be in Miami.

That 1969 Super Bowl changed Miami History.

Keep reading to find out how...

The Orange Bowl with palm trees in 1969

Ain't no palm trees in Minnesota today!

The Orange Bowl had magic always!!

As for the weather this morning may I say it's cold in the Carolinas but way colder in Minnesota where the Super Bowl is being played. Waves of eastbound winter weather have been moving across the country this year much the way westbound tropical waves usually depart Africa in the hurricane season. There has been some Arctic Air mixing it up with those Eastbound impulses this year and it's been a continual see saw between cold, warming up, cold, warming up, freezing, warming up and frigid cold again. One could make a good case for that continual see saw slamming us with cold bursts helped the Flu as it continually weakens our immune system. Some winters the cold sets in and you acclimate yourself to the cold weather. As the mercury climbs into the 40s it feels cold still and the 40s do not last long. But when the mercury vacillates between the 20s and flirting with the 60s it's harder to acclimate to the reality of winter. I'm not sure there is any real science there as medicine is not my thing, but I know it's been a hard winter to acclimate to as the waves of warmer weather followed by frigid weather has taken a toll on many of my friends who tested negative to the flu but were sicker than normal this past winter.

Going further West you can see where this flow begins.

Miami is a funny place. Logically it should never have become a large metropolitan city yet ironically in the heart of the tropics at the water's edge it rose up despite daring Mother Nature to hit it with her best shot and try and damper her magical spirit. Year after year hurricanes curve away from the coast or slice through the Florida Keys rather than slamming into Miami directly. Hurricane Andrew,  compact dry storm, swerved to the left just before crashing directly into downtown Miami and obliterating Miami Beach. Instead, the Category 5 hurricane went south across Everglades National Park, nurseries and farmland down near Homestead. The bedroom communities of Kendall and Cutler Ridge took a huge hit but they are no more "Miami" than pretending Yonkers and New Rochelle are Manhattan. Hurricanes Donna and Betsy went through the Keys in 1965 as did Irma in 2017 and books are filled with hurricanes that could have hit Miami dead on but did not. Miami felt the tropical breath of these hurricanes but that's not the same as having the eye of a Major Hurricane travel across the heart of Miami.

No this isn't about how the 2018 Hurricane Season will bring that variant, violent storm into downtown Miami and do more than show watery video of flooding that disappeared almost magically the next day. New buildings at the water's edge are designed to deal with storm surge and despite the dramatic images stores were open for business and bars opened up in Brickell Village a few days later. This post is more a post on the wonders of Miami than actual weather or hurricanes. My friend Dr. Paul George, the Supreme Miami Historian, has said "Miami is seductive" and that's a direct quote from the other day when we were deep in discussion about Miami's history. Miami is indeed seductive as it is a taste of the tropics on our shores necessitating no passport making it always a vibrant, sexy destination especially in the winter. And, even more amazing Miami morphs through time always staying ahead of the game if not creating the game as it moved from the Roaring 20s to the Sexy 1960s when the Beatles performed at the Deauville Hotel broadcast to the world by the Ed Sullivan Show live in Miami.

 In the 1960s Miami stole Jackie Gleason away to prove that Miami Beach had the "greatest audience in the world" and yes that brings us to the sister city of Miami the way an identical twin is often confused to the casual observer. The only real difference is that Miami Beach was once Miami's sandbar; filled with mangroves as a barrier island and nothing more. Miami at the turn of the last century was a small town congregating around the small ridge along the coast far from the Everglades that began only five miles west of the present site of downtown area. A river no more than five and a half miles and that may be an exaggeration that ran out of the Everglades down to the mouth of the Miami River where old man Brickell and his family ran a trading post for Seminoles who rode down the river in their dug out canoes to trade with the new merchants at the water's edge.

Every twenty years or so Miami recreates itself moving from Miami Vice to CSI Miami with more episodes than can count of Burn Notice shown on air always somewhere. Cutting edge scenery, glittery lights reflecting, shimmering in the water that laps at Miami from many angles be it bay, river or the ocean Miami is forever tied to the tropical waters and balmy breezes of Biscayne Bay. Not much has changed on that level than when people in the late 1800s began to move to Miami for the promise of better health in a warmer climate giving an older person a better quality of life than they had back home in the winter in Ohio battling asthma or tuberculosis. In the 1960s a generation moved South to retire in the Florida Sunshine from snowstorms that exacerbated the general maladies of old age. No I didn't forget Flipper or Gentle Ben, but Flipper was fun and Miami Vice was a sexy upgrade to Miami in the Boom Time 1920s when crime and palm trees often went together. America's Al Capone actually became Miami's Al Capone; even the King of Gangsters moved to Miami for the Florida Sunshine that he enjoyed once again after he got out of jail and lived out his life on Palm Island until he died in 1947. The house not far from homes my grandfather built on Palm Island still exists. Watch my friend Paul show the house and it's history off below.

Cubans who always viewed Miami as a far distant suburb of Havana moved to Miami en masse in the 1960s when Castro came out of the mountains and wrestled Cuba away from the Batisto. The Cubans were followed by others from the Caribbean and over time Israelis, Russians, Pakistani and others found their way to Miami for the same reasons that the early merchants at the turn of the Century did .... it's a great place to sell things to tourists. Tourism is mother's milk to Miami and from the very start small excursion crafts took tourists up river to tall towers built to show people from "Up North" what the Everglades looked like and the beauty of the Miami River in the early 1900s. Again the Everglades began around 32nd Avenue not very far inland. In those days Miami International Airport did not exist and the only things flying about in the air were nesting birds of all types living in the saw grass prairies.

How that small group of early settlers gave birth to a modern metropolitan city surely shows the magic of Miami. After the Galveston Hurricane of 1900 survivors moved inland to Houston where the new canal with the perfect timing opened up. Galveston was rebuilt but it became more a place to go in the summer and enjoy time by the beach in the way that people in the Carolinas head towards the Outer Banks or Myrtle Beach. What makes Miami different? The people; the every day people who lived in Miami who stayed after the 1926 Hurricane. The 1926 Great Miami Hurricane is indeed the one Major Hurricane to take Miami dead on at the Miami River. Those early Miamians rebuilt the city and kept going the same way numerous Miamians have suffered through loss of electric and water while cleaning up the debris and doing repairs waiting out the hurricane season one day at a time til the all clear is on November 30th. Miamians have one real definitive season and that is the Hurricane Season.

So how will Miami fare this year? Yes, I am going there on some level. Miami proved it's worth after the freezes of the winter of 1895 and 1896 when most of Florida froze except for South Florida. Miami's birth as a city is intricately related to it's frost free climate. The farmers, the first real boom in Miami was agricultural, kept shipping out tomatoes and eggplant and pineapples to Key West to be sent far away when crops up the coastline were ruined.  In those days Miami had pineapples but it did not have a world class port the way Key West was a major port. And, yet Miami was not a stranger to tropical storms as October of 1895 and 1896 brought tree trimmer type of storms that blew away the thatched hut homes many lived in and tossed trees forcing even the earliest Miami settlers to clean up after a hurricane. On Miami Beach life went on as normal for the rattlesnakes and alligators and other creatures that lived in the mangroves at the water's edge.

The only REAL difference over time has been the way we can now prepare residents before a Hurricane makes landfall. Even in the 1950s and 1960s early Miamian's did their best to prepare and after the storm they waited to be allowed back into hurricane ravaged areas.

Your typical catch a frontal boundary storm.

Back to  back October storms.

Miami is often open wide for assault from October hurricanes in the same way late August and September make us look out our ocean front windows for hurricanes headed this way moving WNW around the strong Bermuda High. We may have blown up the rapids in the river, drained the swamps, built some flood control canals and built skyscrapers to withstand storm surge but the dangers are still there and the type of people who live in Miami stay there and rebuild time and time again. 

If the current pattern continues from this winter then the tropics will remain busy next year and storms that form early or late at the tail end of cold fronts could grab that opportunity to travel North along the front in the same way Jackie Gleason grabbed his chance to move to Miami; much the way Don Shula in town for the 1969 Super Bowl looked around Miami and liked what he saw and took the job offer to move to Miami and coach for the Dolphins. His team, the Baltimore Colts, may have lost the game to Joe Namath's Jets but Don Shula ended up the winner in the end and so did Miami. Miami's magic and seductive call once again lured away the big prize.

Yeah you knew I would weave the Super Bowl into this blog right? How can you talk about Super Bowl History and Miami without remembering Miami's constant use of grabbing any chance to advertise how warm and beautiful Miami is in the heart of winter to tourists digging out from snow and sub zero weather. Our early Mayor E. G. Sewell used every chance to advertise Miami's beauty to Northerners before Carl Fisher put bathing beauties on billboards in Time Square in January and Charlie Cinnamon turned Coconut Grove into the Left Bank and started an Art Show to advertise the showing of Irma La Douce showing at the Coconut Grove Playhouse; publicity has always been King in Miami and Jackie Gleason was indeed the Great One when it came to being the King of Miami Promoters every week broadcasting his show to the rest of America.

http://communitynewspapers.com/dining-and-entertainment/blame-irma-la-douce-for-coconut-grove-art-festival/

Miami is magical. It's history defies logic and it's long lasting appeal can only be attributed to being the Magic city with it's seductive call and the ever present moon rising over Miami lighting up the tropical night sky. Even a hurricane as strong as the Category 4 Great Miami Hurricane did not put an end to it's growth . . . just slowing the growth a bit prior to the Great Depression that made Miami and the nation take a break from the boom of the 1920s. But even then in the early 1930s people like my grandfather moved to Miami to work on construction on Miami Beach where small beautiful Art Deco buildings were going up despite the slow growth of construction elsewhere. I can picture him working on the small dome of a synagogue a block from the Ocean feeling the balmy breeze as he worked in the January sunshine of 1936 far from the bitter cold up North. In Miami you could grow crops in your yard, pick citrus fruit off the orange tree in your backyard and eat fresh fish any day of the year. Family legend has it he apologized to my very Southern Grandma Mary from Tampa who met him while visiting her sister Jenny in Philadelphia that she was right and he should have listened to her ... that Florida is like paradise and they should have moved South earlier. Apparent my Grandfather Ben felt Miami's magical call when he visited in 1935 with a friend. He told my mother how the wind blew in Miami so strong from a Labor Day Hurricane in the Keys he practically had to hold onto a palm tree not to blow away. Nope, the reality of tropical weather did not deter him from moving to the tropics and finding work and warm weather all year. My uncle in the 1960s grew tomatoes in the backyard of the house my grandfather built near the orange tree my cousin and I used to climb and the front yard was filled with rose bushes always in bloom. That's life in Miami.

Miami is the gateway to the tropics and every once in a while a tropical problem finds it's way into our beautiful city. I hope and pray Miami's magic continues and it's star shines on growing, evolving and only getting better over time. Luckily our ability to prepare the residents earlier and more accurately also improves. As we move closer to June 1st I suggest you stock up on things you see on sale that will help you during the 2018 Atlantic Hurricane Season as it may indeed me a sort of repeat of the 2016 Hurricane Season but this year Pt. St Lucie could be hit the way Big Pine Key was last year or some how a hurricane this year will find it's way into Miami proper and give Miamians a real run for their money.

I'll be in Raleigh for the Super Bowl and back in Miami soon enough. Thanks for letting me muse during the Off Season a bit on Miami History and how it relates to the magical growth of Miami despite the yearly threat of devastation from hurricanes. Often this time of year I think out loud here on my blog working my way through ideas I want to pursue down the road. 

Besos BobbiStorm

Ps I'm rooting for the Philadelphia Eagles if you were wondering but how any real Miamian can root for the Patriots is beyond me unless they originally came from New England ancestors. 

http://flcitrusmutual.com/industry-issues/weather/freeze_timeline.aspx Note many of those hard freezes were followed by busy hurricane seasons. Something to think on while it's quiet and we watch people up north worry on snow.

http://www.publix.com/pages/publix-storm-basics