Updated 4 PM ....Today is a Weather Day! Tornado Watch! High Winds! Severe Weather!! Hail??!! Snow Up by the Great Lakes. Hurricane Season 77 Days Away....

 4 PM

What a signature.

Southern part in the Gulf is WOW!

Another view below shows the intense cells.

Not over until it's over....

...but so far so good in Raleigh.

Love the color presentation from Zoom Earth above.

Check out that IR loop in motion.

We have had some rain.

We had thunderstorms last night.

It's obvious above FL really under the gun.

I mean it's a nonstop flow of severe storms.

Tornado Watch has been dropped here.

But we are told it's not over yet.

Stay alert.

Fast moving system.

Lots of power there.

You'll feel it when you turn the heat back on...

That area in the Gulf is dangerous.

So basically the Raleigh Snow Hole that recently stole our snow totals, now seems to be a hero for keeping tornadoes from touching down.  And, I'll add the very welcome rain has been soaking and should be a big help as we have been in quite the drought. There were some tornado warnings earlier down by the coast and in random places. 

I know there were many storm chasers in the NC area so that must have stimulated the economy especially at the Mini Marts. Mark Sudduth was online Live most of the day in the Raleigh area. He's currently moved a bit and is now getting ready to do a drone test. 

It's not over til it's over.

And once the storm is gone.... 

...the cold temperatures will funnel back in :)

I'm a funny person in that I have no probablem standing outside in a hurricane or at the beach with storm chaser friends, and yet I'd prefer to watch tornadoes from afar or in the movies. I have chased many lines of weather with water spouts in the Florida Keys and in Miami and there was that time in a cornfield in Iowa... but I'm a Hurricane girl ya know... 

Always best to prepare. The sheer size of this system made it hard for meteorologists to pin point exactly which town would get a tornado or severe winds. As it all plays out in real time and when one area graabs the energy another area just gets rain and some wind. It's been dark all day, a heavy cloud cover made taking any pictures not worth the time so I just watched the clouds move (not easy as the cloud cover was so thick) and the rain fall heavy at an angle and we definitely need the rain. Won't call "all clear" until later tonight. Stay tuned, keep reading if you did not and remember 77 Days til Hurricane Season!

10 AM

I'd call this a Red Alert Day!

Dangerous weather across a wide area.

And it's a Weather Buffet

Though you don't get to choose.

Whatever is on the menu in your state...

..is the Storm of the Day.

IF

I could pick a model.

I'd go with the GFS

It's the weather addict's

drug of choice.

Always knows what you want.

What you really really want

SNOW in Raleigh!!

Yeah...no I don't think that's happening.

Rolling eyes........

We currently have a Tornado Watch in NC.

Florida is all wild weather...

..and a late season cold front.

Late season for Florida.

I like Matt's graphics.

He makes it easy to find the info.

Just the right amount.

The real story tho is.....

...Winter isn't gone yet.

He still has a few tricks up his sleeve.

The reality here is that once all the storms slide by and the dust settles and hoping and praying no one is killed in dangerous high winds and tornadoes the reality that we will sink in is that Winter is not done with us yet. The Spring Fling we've had that came a little bit early will remain even though there will be some cooler weather intrusions. Spring Solstice is 4 days away and old timers in the colonies would prepare for storms around the time of the Solstice. Nothing new under the sun it seems...

Weather is like love and our favorite food fetishes. Some people love pizza with anchovies on it and others want to literally puke when they watch someone eat a slice of pizza with anchovies. I have a daughter who after a trip to France or Spain or maybe Italy came back with a real hatred of anything that looks like anchovies and she's not thrilled with capers either. To some capers are like the cherry on the top of a sundae except sprinkled over their salad. Try explaining that to my daughter.

Some love sushi, some love snow.

Some love conch fritters, some love tropical heat.

Some just want steak and potatoes with lots of gravy. Generally those types, but not always, love any kind of weather. I prefer hurricanes to tornadoes because you can prepare and that's my way of saying I am enough of a control freak to know there's a way to protect my property of get out of dodge if a hurricane is coming. Not such a control freak as much as I carry that gene that has kept my family alive as they wandered near and far to avoid war or persecution or a mean stepmother. 

Life is filled with good times, bad times, love and loss and you have to learn to roll with the punches. You have to know where to go when weather threatens. Where to hunker down and hide and hope the storm blows by without too much drama but just enough shake, rattle and roll to liven up your life just enough and yet not endanger it.

Remember it's 77 Days til Hurricane Season. When the switch is flipped to Severe Weather Season in the South it usually means that Hurricane Season is the next season on the way. So it's a good time to think on what you might need to get for the 2026 Hurricane Season that you don't already have and make a Wish List. For some that's a generator, for others it's repairing Hurricane Shutters or even getting some Hurricne Shutters.

For those of us in the Carolinas and Virginia we have a Weaather kit that is set up for all seasons. The Winter Storm supplies just become Hurricane Supplies. 

For those in Florida.... Georgia, the Gulf Coast and Texas know next season up is Hurricane Season. 

March Madness doesn't go on forever. 

Severe Weather Season/Tornadoes. 

Hurricane Season and that also brings the threat of tornadoes.

Stay safe. Stay aware. Stay Prepared.

RDU has already cancelled 50 flights as of 10 AM and that number will rise. So if you have loved ones traveling today, there may be delays unless they get very lucky.

Again........while they can tell us we have a Tornado Watch and they have already cancelled school just in case.... no one knows who, where or what could be hit by a tornado. A hurricane is really one of the only natural disasters where you can track a storm, get advisories, have time to make a list and have time to put your to do list into action to prepare for a landfalling hurricane. Hurricane Season unlike tornadoes and earthquakes is the only natural disaster you have enough heads up and the NHC gets better and better in pinpointing where the dangers will be the worst for you to decide whether to ride out the storm or to get out of town and evacuate.  Knowledge is power and you have some control, even if it feels like an illusion it is enough of a heads up to save your life and the lives of your loved ones.

That's it. Will update later as things evolve and hopefully I'll keep power and will only have some winds vs tornadoes touching down. We are at an elevated risk of 4 on a scale of 1-5 so have to take it seriously.

May all the talk on social media today be a reminder............Hurricane Season is 77 days away!

Besos BobbiStorm

@bobbistorm on X

Ps There are already 3,000 power outages in Allamance County. There are concerns that some cells could carry winds and the hail forecast has been adjusted to larger hail possible and EF2 tornadoes or stronger so will update later as time allows.

What a Difference a Day Makes... Cold Front Races Thru Temperature Drops 40 Degrees ..... NHC Debuts the Gray X for the 2026 Hurricane Season!

 

Snow to our North.

Actually snowed in Roxboro NC today.

Temperature dropped like a cold stone....

Yesterday it was hovering near the 90 degree mark! When the front whooshed through this morning it felt like I was in Miami when a cold front races through. One minute it was hot, balmy and yucky the next minute the winds picked up and suddenly things rained down onto the roof. By the time got outside the air was beautifully fresh and cold. There are a lot of small dead branches and pine cones that begin hitting the roof when a gust front sweeps through fast in Raleigh.  We had some rain though nothing wild by Miami standards but a good fast moving rain in Raleigh. Hopefully that will keep the pollen count down for a day or so. We are just beginning our Pollen Season featuring mustard yellow pollen showing up on everything!

But let's talk Hurricane Season. El Nino is on the way and I'd say the big question remains how fast El Nino shows up in force. That will tell the story more than just screaming "El Nino! El Nino Coming!" It's all in the timing.

Second of all the NHC has released some new information regarding graphical changes to the Hurricane Maps. I think it's a fairly good idea. People often get upset or confused when they the old yellow X is put up with a 0% chance of forming. So the NHC will be putting up an gray X to mark those areas that they notice, they see but do not expect any formation. Yellow will stand for more expectations of development. Of course I imagine if things change a gray X could go yellow but let's watch and see how it plays out in real time.

Close up view below

It's 81 Days til June 1st

Getting closer every day.

Will talk on more changes tomorrow from NHC.

This one is easier to explain.

The other is a more technical change.

As for the NC weather today....

...got almost every color on the map.

Yes indeed! 

NC having a day.

I'm having a day...

..I love the cooler weather!

I'm having salad and pizza or dinner.

Husband making the pizza...

...I'm making the salad!

Crazy day.

Lots of news.

And God bless it's cool again for a bit here.

Hold onto those tropical dreams....

BobbiStorm

@bobbistorm on X

Part of me misses Key West.

Kind of an ancestral home.

Love Miami... 

But Carolinas are awesome fine too...

I had a best friend who passed away...

..she loved James Taylor.

She insisted he was from NE

NOT North Carolina lol.

Yes he was born in Boston.

But he spent time in NC

I love Seattle and not born there ;)

Heat Records Broken From 1925 in NC for High Heat. 1925 the Year of the TriState Tornado One of the Worst. 1925 & 2026 Similarities!

 

The track of the tornado that recently raged.

The track and time of year bugged me.

Trying to fall asleep last night .....

...it hit me I was thinking on the Tri State Tornado.

1925 

The track below...

The disaster this week made me think on the 1925 TriState Tornado. Why? I know it was a year with some extremes and weather oddities including one of the worst tornado tragedies in American History and I'd add the world. I knew it was in March and I knew it impacted parts of Indiana. I wondered what sort of weather that year would create such a disastrous set up and obviously there was high heat meeting up with cold diving air. Very classic set up and yet the size and scope of it was off the charts. We are having very high heat this week, before a cool front breezes through Thursday evening.

Google AI

(not always perfect but it's well done)

A look at the actual weather maps.

I've wondered how similar the weather was in 1925 to what we have been experiencing this week. I put it on my to do list to check into today. But time moves fast in 2026 and it gets away from us fast and before I could research it the news came in just now that the high temperature in Raleigh today beat the all time record high for March 11th and the year that held that record was indeed 1925. It didn't surprise me. It's called the Tri State Tornado as it was a long track and covered a three states as you can see above moving from Missouri through Illinois into Indiana. Today people chase tornadoes, people watch chasers chase on YouTube and run in real time to seek shelter while watching the tornado on satellite imagery in real time as it approaches their town.

The biggest difference between the year 1925 and 2026 is that today we have a heads up, we have warnings, we have live real time evaluation of a developing system and we can do our best to warn people. We have alarms on our phones that are loud and wake us in the dead of night. In 1925 the ability to forecast weather was as good as it could be and many were taken by surprise. I've read family stories and discussion on the Tri State Tornado and I know how surprised many were and the size and scope of the tragedy from a geographic perspective so this happened across a wide area. 

Oddly or not so oddly the 1925 Hurricane Season was a quiet one. A very quiet one. While the Roaring 20s roared on celebrating the boom and prosperity, it took a long time to clean up from the tornado from hell. It left such a scary in our national history that F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote a short story about the tornado. Note the very slow season began rather late and ended on December 1st, 1925.

I couldn't sleep thinking on this.......

....knowing it's supposed to be hot today.

Very hot as in high 80s in NC.

How similar were the two years?

The TV happened to be on in the background.

I muted it, kind of like a screensaver...

I watch General Hostpital ...don't judge me.

I looked up and froze the screen to get a pic.

Whoah. 

We broke the record from 1925.

Seems my thoughts were on point.

I still want to do some research.

No end to videos on YouTube

Ironically the children that heard about the Tri State Tornadoes on the radio and read news articles grew up fearing tornadoes in a new way. Later as teens and young adults they went to the movies and watched The Wizard of Oz ...the epic movie from a time when kids had nightmares about a tornado like the one that made a bee line for Dorothy's home and scooped her up to a far away land called Oz. 

I know it's funny looking at it now....

...but at the time it was scary.

When I was a little girl they'd put the Wizard of Oz on every year. I had this friend named Joey, a little boy who loved dinosaurs. He probably grew up to love weather and geology. Our mothers were friends. They talked while we watched in his bedroom. I used to stare at his room while watching  as it had a lot of little model dinosaurs. I think I heard years later he taught science or history. Joey is not so important, but he was an important part of the story as it was the first time I saw The Wizard of Oz as we sat there being afraid of the mean scenes and listening to the awesome music scenes. I studied dance since I was 7 years old, do not judge me!

You have to think on how the generation that was little when the Tri State Tornadoe happened... the age of Dorothy went on to the theater and make The Wizard of Oz one of the all time biggest movie hits of all time. 

What is in a collective history indeed?? Are people more afraid of Hurricanes or Tornadoes? How much do movies like Twister make a collective difference in our lives?

So gotta go make dinner. Chicken and Yellow Rice, because you know it's a go to meal round here.

Will the 2026 Hurricane Season be quiet or will it be wild like 1926. Ironically the year after a very quiet hurricane season was filled with numerous historic hurricanes including the one that dealt a heavy blow to the boom of the Roaring 20s when the Great Miami Hurricane made landfall in South Florida as a direct hit by a strong Category 4 Hurricane!

Something to think on...

Sweet Tropical Dreams,

BobbiStorm

5 Days into Meteorological Spring! Flowers Blooming. Temperatures Soaring. Tornado & Severe Weather Season Closer.... Stay Aware - What Season Are We In Today??

 

Soon that patch of blue will be gone.

The red buds turn to green leaves.

Spring is putting on a display today!

Won't lie, it's pretty.

Inspiring.

Sunlight on the leaves ...

...looks like flowers.

Geraniums maybe.

Without that smell...

But it also brings pollen.

Leading us to our next season.

Pollen Season.

Pic from Mike below.

@tropicalupdate on X

aka Mike's Weather Page 

Spring brings Severe Weather Season.

Already there's concern on Twisters soon.

I know I have been missing in action because it's not hurricane season and it's that season when NFL football is over and it's not hurricane season and I try hard to stay busy. Currently there's been a lot to pay attention to..

But I am back with a reminder that March isn't just about March Madness but...

Spring Allergy Pollen Season

Tornado Season

Severe Weather Season

And, winter is not totally over officially until the Spring Solstice on March 20th even though we do pay attention to Meteorological March. Why? Well here's a forecast for my upcoming week in Raleigh.

IF long term models are correct....

a week from now it'll be in 30s at night again.

I'll believe that when I see it.

I do love cooler air.

I do love seeing the sky & clouds in Raleigh...

I like bare branches with the sky peeking thru.

I find them artistically beautiful.

But the sky will be hidden again soon.

But the Spring flowers are so beautiful.

So so beautiful!!

So so beautiful!

I'm sorry I really can't repost a gazillion images of Melissa in every possible filter reminding everyone the NHC retired the name as that is not exactly news. And everyone is talking on it and I find it hard to believe a hermit living on a small island in the Pacific somewhere has not seen or heard about Melissa being upgraded with stronger official winds and the name being retired. 

Note the M name has been retired often of late.

Michael, Maria, Melissa to name a few. 

Curious on what M name they will replace it with.........

Have a wonderful day. Stay safe, Stay happy and I will try to post more as real weather stories exist in what I call Hurricane Country. Everywhere there's something. Out West there's Fire Danger Weather.  And in South Florida there will be rain today. My daughter who loves to sit in the sun, walk in the sun, feel the sun on her body is going to send me images with angry emojis that the sky is dark and it's going to rain!

That's life in South Florida even in February the height of the dry season and a Festival every weekend... it could maybe rain.

I think everyone will survive....

...even the tourists!

Sweet Tropical Dreams,

BobbiStorm

Ps yes I know the font changed.

I actually like it better.

Not Hurricane Season so I don't care..

3 Days Til Spring. Rain Returns to the Carolinas. See Saw Weather. But Spring Will Be Here Soon... No Illusions on That. Melissa Upgraded........

 

There are red little buds on the tree.

It's a maple tree.

First sign of Spring here..

The trees begin to bud.

There's a moment of excitement.

Then reality sets in....

I'm not ready to end Winter.

I like Winter.

I like seeing the sky.... 

through the branches of the tree.

But it's happening.... 

...so marking this passage of time.

Like it or not...

..and many praying for it.

Not ready yet...

..yet it's beginning.

Spring is in 3 days.

Meteorological Spring.

Been a rainy, gray day.

More like silver rain... 

..falling not so silently.

As Ben Noll said today..

"one day soon you'll wake up...

...and it will suddenly like Spring.

Yeah....definitely!

I'm okay with it....

I kind of go with the flow....

..and I know

It's on it's way.

Few more COLD fronts.

Few more HOT days.

Flip flop weather.

I don't mean shoes.

See Saw...

UP and down and UP again.

I made Spaghetti for dinner.

Spaghetti and meat sauce.

Salad.

Kind of a chilling, nice....

...cold gray day for me.

Breathe and Smile.

Enjoy the day....

More tomorrow on Melissa

Everyone is talking on it.

I don't like to be everyone... 

My blog.

My day.

On my own time.

Melissa landfall 190 MPH!

We will see what 2026 has in store

Sweet Tropical Dreams,

BobbiStorm

@bobbistorm on X

X mostly weather ;)

Next week will be 75...

..for a day but still...

Snow Totals to 3 FT in RI. Hurricane Like Blizzard! Fires in the Everglades Today... Mother Nature Way Too Busy This Week! El Nino In the Wings...

 

The Blizzard that looked like a Hurricane.

But definitely a blizzard as you can see below!

With so many beautiful AI photos online it's hard to be sure what's real, what's true before sharing. When it comes to images from @ContentWxGuy on X I never have to worry it's AI or just fake, but beautiful pics. What a set of pics. I have heard that because it was a blizzard the part of the building or tree facing the winds that make it a blizzard vs "snow storm" plastered the side facing the wind with snow and ice. I think this larger picture really shows it off perfectly.  Emergency workers and Hatzalah a medical group on the scene took the child to the hospital now listed in stable condition. As a Miami girl I can't imagine growing up with that sort of snow and the kids who never listened. I mean in a Hurricane they were hunkered down, locked in and after they were not allowed out of the house or far into the yard as debris was everywhere. 

Rhode Island won the Snow Total Lottery. 3 Feet or more in places, snow drifts as high a tall guy lost in the snow. The models verified! Parts of NY, Long Island especially, New England are all cloaked in layers of white snow. Airports are closed. Lakewood NJ and other cities along the coast got blasted by snow vs sand as they would in a hurricane. This image below is from a group of volunteer emergency workers saving a child's life as apparently they built an Igloo and it collapsed. 

Mother Nature seems at War this week.

There's Fires in the Everglades :(

To be fair before Miami was built up into a large, busy, singing city for the future there were always fires in the Everglades. It was a process that happened in dry years when lightning or a strong wind blew sparks of a fire for cooking by the indigenous people who lived there and it was said to burn off the over growth from the wet years and keeping the Glades in balance. That happened in Los Angeles area as well as fires from the Chumash tribe in the mountains would spark fires that burned off new growth and created a haze across the LA Basin that was noted by the Franciscan Friars moving North along the coast along El Camino Real (Now Highway 101 aka Pacific Coast Highway) exploring the area and leaving records for us all to read today. 

Fire has been around a long time. And, when the winds blow strong during the dry season when Arctic Fronts move down into South Florida.........fires happen. But now close to 3 Million people live in that small, crowded, tropical areas. The area that is known as MIA/FLL is closer to 6 million. And anyone with breathing problems needs to stay indoors, carry their inhaler if they have asthma and eyes will tear from the smoke where ever the wind blows it....   It's all about the Wind not just the Fire. But everyone will post beautiful sunsets, especially the tourists. 

Beautiful pictures, good to follow.

But it's not normal for it to look like that...

...unless there's a reason.

I'm not gonna show snow totals.

Everyone else has.

We have all seen them.

Better show a pic from Jim.

Reminds me a lot of the 1977 Chicago Blizzard.

What's next?

Week from now...

...either this from EURO

or that.......the GFS

We will see.

In the "we will see" mind frame...

We are waiting to see what El Nino does.

Does it come on strong and fast?

Does it build slowly?

Time will tell.

97 Days til Hurricane Season.

Will the El Nino 2026...

...come on fast like 1997?

Or a slow motion El Nino?

Stay tuned!

Besos BobbiStorm

My daughter in Upstate NY..

born a California Girl

Grew up in Miami

Snowed in...

..is dreaming of Summer.

Camping...

and the Beach.

This song is for her......

The Groundhog Told the Truth!! Fake Spring Will Go Poof Soon Nuff. Winter Southbound Again!

 

Funny thing happened on the way to making a "to do list" for the day... 

I had YouTube running in the background and suddenly Mike showed up and I saw a pic that said Margaritaville and I swear I thought it was a Menu. I thought "oh they changed the menu??" then I realized it was Mike's Weather Page talking on his cruises that he does and realized he was talking weather. I took another sip of my Nespresso woke up a drop more some and realized rarely does his video pop up during the off-season. One minute I'm listening to a music video that my son produced a few years back and the next minute Mike is talking. Wondering if the algorithm changed or if this was a message from the powers that be in the weather world. Either way it was delightful listening to Mike talk, something I should have a degree in but not going there. 

So this was the answer to the question I posed yesterday while I was sitting in bed wearing my summer wardrobe with the windows wide open and that was "Is this Fake Spring" or really Spring. I mean I knew the answer. Who would argue with a Groundhog?  I've been to this rodeo before and I know that especially in the Carolinas we get these warm breezes from the South and everyone thinks it's Spring and then Mother Nature whips the football away and tosses us a few more deep diving cold fronts.

And there it is...

Check out those isobars.

Vertical with cold air flowing South.

 Check that snow storm out! Check out that Coastal Low. I do think that's the way the 2026 Hurricane Season may go... lots of Coastal Lows offshore and way less in the Caribbean going on. Time will tell.

My gosh that snow is tantalizingly close, but Virginia always steals the snow here in North Carolina.

So just saying hello and goodbye for now ...

Don't put your parka or hoodie back in the closet, because the Polar Express still has some runs to make before it switches up it's travel plans!! 

Sweet whatever dreams you want weather wise......or menu wise!!

BobbiStorm

Ps......Mike does so love old school Southern Rock and Roll so here's a song he mentioned this morning on his Daily Brew! Haven't heard it in years and not one on my playlist though I have danced to it many times. I may be southbound soon too, just haven't figured it out yet time wise as I have a busy dance card between now and Mid April!