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!
Friday, May 15, 2026
May 15th Start of EPAC Hurricane Season! May 15th Start of the South Florida Miami Monsoons aka Rainy Season. Hope & Pray El Nino Lowers Your Chances of a Landfalling Hurricane. But Stay Prepared. Analogy to Keep Your Inhaler on You IF U Have Asthma... Only Takes One....
Check that out!
Cantore doing a Tropical Update.
Highlighting EPAC ....
...which begins TODAY!
Nothing for the next 7 days!
But on May 15th NHC begins TWO
Tropical Weather Outlook for the Atlantic.
Nothing in the next 7 days!
Atlantic Season officially begins June 1st.
Sometimes May systems slip in early so...
...we always watch.
This worries me this year....
as El Nino it pulling it together.
Keeping the season slower than normal.
But there is a window early on.....
...before El Nino is in control!
In other news...
...related as it's part of the weather cycle in Miami.
Rainy Season begins.
Humidity climbs horribly high.
Rains begin.
Pressures drop.
then ...
Hurricane Season begins!!
The two are intricately tied together.
On X Florida Rainy Season also trending!
That's a thing.
My favorite pic online below:
I took this pic chasing with my best friend!
Miami Monsoons.
End of May through August.
June is usually epic.
Every year is different tho....
Growing up in Miami the Miami Monsoons that begin usually in late May are often stronger than most Category 1 Hurricanes. Okay, they don't last as long, but the sky turns ten shades of black with some purple and dark indigo thrown in and a few highlights of purple rambunctious! The wind begins to howl, thunder and lightning snap loudly and the rains are monsoonal and create a deluge just as you are about to leave school at dismissal. As a child growing up in Miami at 3PM on the dot the dismissal bell would ring and the loudest thunder would boom and the sky would suddenly let go and drop torrential rains as you run to the car if your parents picked you up or run for cover if they did not. Sometimes they'd hold off until we'd get halfway home while walking over the catwalk that took us across the Palmetto Expressway where we'd stand too long watching the violent line of storms moving closer debating how much time we had before we were in danger of being zapped by lightning or drenched in rain.
When I grew up in the Roads Section the timing was never for sure, but often sometime in the late afternoon. When my parents moved further out West to Westchster when I was 7 you could literally tell the time by the wild sky and thunder and lightning at exactly 3 PM. Years later they moved to Miami Beach and again sometimes you get them sometimes you don't as the severe thunderstorms with cloud to ground lightning strikes would move more to the North and let loose over North Miami Beach or more to the South and slam into Coconut Grove and Coral Gables and some would actually make it to Miami Beach. They usually build up over the Everglades, deep in the interior of Florida and move with the wind flow. Sometimes they go West towards Naples and other times they move East over Miami. Either way, one way or the other someone is gonna get slammed with afternoon thunderstorms with the intensify of a Tropical Storm of weak hurricane! Probably why local Miami people don't get nervous until the hurricane intensifies or there is an actual Hurricane Warning as often a weak category one doens't have the punch of a Miami Monsoon!
And yet......local, old Florida people KNOW they need to stay prepared. They don't pay much attention to El Nino Hype anymore than they do worry on an Invest or a Tropical Storm Watch. Infact, a Tropical Storm Watch means you call in sick and hit the beach to watch the waves and feel a bit of wind. Just being honest. But they know and you should know you must stay prepared and stay aware even in an El Nino Year.
Seems some of the people on X think I am a denier and don't believe an El Nino is coming our way. They must be newbies. I know, I'm watching and juggling analog years in my head as I wait to see what kind of El Nino we actually get in the end. And, that's important as often an El Nino builds in fast and the media jumps on it promising a Hurricane Free Pass for the Hurricane Season. That is really unwise, but hey everyone clicks on the links. El Nino is all the rage!! Why? Because sometimes an El Nino builds, then digs in to one particular part of the Pacific and depending on where the El Nino drops anchor makes all the difference. And that we won't know for sure until it happens in real time. Many times models have been wrong in some degree about El Nino and sometimes despite El Nino the water stays warm in the Atlantic and we end up with a busy season despite El Nino. Yes, El Nino often shuts down the deep SW Carib, but it isn't a "Get Out of Jail Card" and you all need to remember that.
Let me explain it like this:
Say you have a mild problem with asthma. You don't often get a severe attack, but you have once in a while. A random bad asthma attack happens and you reach into your pocket or purse and grabbed your inhaler, take a few puffs carefully and the attack begins to wane and you were glad you were prepared and didn't leave it home thinking you'd be fine. All of us have done that at one time or another and often gotten we get lucky. Once at a wedding when I danced like crazy I felt an asthma attack coming on and realized I didn't take it as it didn't fit in my little purse and tried to remember who in the room had asthma and quickly asked them to borrow theirs and luckily that worked. Sadly, it doesn't always work.
Recently my daughter went to a funeral and saw a huge heart sticking out above the other tombstones and it revealed that the young teen died young. She felt bad, she asked me to find out who the girl was and how she died. Shayna is like that, if you know you know, so rather than argue I did some fast research and saw heartbreakingly it was a beautiful girl who grew up on Miami Beach near where we lived and she had been out without her inhaler and before her mother could get her to the hospital she died. Really sad. Her sisters had a business where they made jewelry and often they put butterflies on them in her sister's memory as she loved butterlies. Very sad, only takes one time without your inhaler or some other medication some are prescribed.
I'm being serious, take hurricane season seriously and hope and pray that it'll be a quiet season and no Major Hurricane will find it's way to your door, to your home, to your loved ones.
video below...
Andrew was an El Nino Year.
Michael was an El Nino Year.
Florence was an El Nino Year.
Camille was an El Nino Year.
Yes, sometimes they were weaker or waning and other times a hurricane found it's groove in an area where El Nino wasn't a hindrance. Sometimes the water was so warm that hurricanes still formed and made landfall. Every season is different. They set up further West in the Pacific and sometimes they are short lived or are not as strong as models had forecast. Sometimes they are even stronger than they were forecast as in 1997 when a huge El Nino developed fast and furious.
So no I am not in denial. I am watching. I am studying the situation. And, I am hoping that people take the 2026 Hurricane Season seriously as they would normally. Especially as it's possible for a hurricane to form, get into the Gulf and close to the coast where water is the hottest they can intensify fast and make landfall as a Cat 3 or Cat 4 while you weren't paying attention because you thought you had a free pass because El Nino. It only takes one!
Again think of it as you would IF you had asthma and take your inhaler with you always, even if you have been lucky and rarely get an asthma attack. It only takes one asthma attack to kill someone and it only takes one hurricane in an El Nino year to cause you tremendous trauma, destroy your home and if you are lucky you will have hidden in a bathtub with a mattress over you while someone stronger held the bathroom door from flying away as happened to several people I know in Huricane Andrew. Note they don't feel "safer" because El Nino and the moment a Hurricane Watch is posted they are on the first plane out of Dodge or int his case Miami Dade County.
It only takes one asthma attack without your inhaler.
Is Super El Nino Over Hype or Godzilla El Nino Over Hype and Super El Nino Just Right?
This is a good map Jeff Berardelli made! Shows issues few discuss.
While El Nino can shut down some areas....
..other areas such as close in can be open for business.
Also high latitude landfalls close to home...
..along the East Coast and up into Canada!
Florence would be an example.
Michael would be an example.
More on that later...
Also there are new things going on...
...new ways of showing a cone.
Norcross shows how percentages matter!
I like this idea shown below.
Yes, I took some time to watch Bryan Norcross talking on El Nino as well as some general tropical discussion. There has been so much talk on Super El Nino Coming as if it's a promise. And, many see it as an added promise that we don't have to worry on Hurricane Season in the Atlantic. That is wrong. While we are not expecting a hyperactive hurricane season it's hard to say for sure what sort of hurricane season we will have until we are way deeper into July and August. And, as Bryan mentions in this video linked below, Hurricane Andrew that took advantage of a favorable week late in August when the season had been so quiet it was basically dormant. Actually the Hurricane Season of 1992 during an El Nino was playing possum and many bought it hook, line and sinker. Old time Miamians and Cubans watched nervously as they knew signs that sometimes fortell a hurricane would be coming to South Florida.
What were those signs? It was "beastly hot" early on and it never let up. Crazy hot, record breaking heat and our usual afternoon showers were not so usual. There was a double bloom of the mango trees and then old timers worried on that and no I can't explain the scientific details on how that happens but a double bloom often happens in a year with a hurricane. Then there was a third bloom and people were totally "what the hell" and old timers said to them "oh this is not good" while everyone else was dancing the El Nino Dance which they felt meant "no hurricanes" and as we were deep into August before we had a named storm, it seemed that was a definite thing. But then Andrew formed, and fobbled along trying to find traction and often was in danger of being until it found it's sweet spot and well 1992 became a "not so quiet year" quite suddenly! I use long run on sentences sometimes to express the reality of the Hurricane Season is a long season and it evolves in real time with many obstacles and sudden development or rapid intensificaiton known as RI.
It actually takes a lot to get a dangeous busy hurricane season going. And, yet sometimes we have dangerous seasons after promises by the media of a quiet season. I want people to remember that and stay aware and prepared!
Michael and Florence in 2018 left scars across the South when they made landfall in a year that was forecast to be quiet and less active. It was an El Nino year and cooler water temperatures seemed to be promised, but as we all know come hurricane season promises often get broken. You can read more on the reasons why 2018 did not end up being a quieter season as many had been led to believe in May and June.
As always Bryan Norcross is great to listen to and if you are going to listen to discussion on El Nino and how it relates to this Hurricane Season he'd be the one to go to...
Either way, everyone is talking about it online so you can't miss it!
Since Mike and I are friends and I'm a huge fan as well I will go with his 2026 NAMES graphic!
One of these names may be remembered....
..like Andrew or Florence or Michael!
Spent much time last night going over analog years for 2026 by a variety of good meteorologists. I'll talk more on that later this week. What's interesting is many mention totally different years. There seems to be less agreement this year than usual. Stay tuned. Stay prepared. Stay aware!
2018 was a Busy El Nino. 2013 a Slow Year Not an El Nino. Hurricane Florence Found a Way to Stay Away from El Nino Shutting Down the Carib. Always Stay Prepared!
Just some quick thoughts on weather today and as we move towards Hurricane Season.
First off, Hurricane Season begins on June 1st whether it's a busy season or a quiet season. It's kind of like Football Season. If you are a Miami Dolphin fan it begins on time with a schedule of games and whether they win somehow or lose over and over it's still Football Season. Except when the Fins lose you are upset, rant online or insist you will stop following them or go to the game away and watch the sad, sorry show because you're a die hard Dolphin fan! For Hurricane Researchers and Trackers we watch day by day and if it's slow, quiet it's still Hurricane Season!
2013 Hurricane Season
Hurricane Season always produces named storms. Some years they struggle to get a name, and struggle harder to maintain the name. Take 2013 for example, it produced lots of weak storms that had problems keeping their Mojo going. Ironically, 2013 was not even an El Nino year as there are many factors that can inhibit development besides El Nino. Around storm chasers we do not even whisper the year 2013, but many others were celebrating the calm in the eye of the hurricane season.
Ironically 2018 was as El Nino year! And, yes while the deep SW Carib did stay fairly quiet, Mother Nature found a way to hit the Carolinas by keeping Florence high up in latitude as she crossed the entire Atlantic from Africa where she began as a tropical wave with a plan. I was at some point early on sure she was going to go the distance. No matter what negative conditions she encountered she kept on going, avoiding the Carib ruled by El Nino shear and slammed into the Carolinas. Michael, late in the season, started from a weak area of convection down by the tip of the Yucatan and suddenly there was model discussion and arguing on X and WHAM it slammed into Florida as a Cat 5 punctuation mark to a season that many expected to be quiet.
Check that ACE out.
I am simply saying we are 22 days away from Hurricane Season. Shop when you see specials, hide snacks where no one will find them and prepare as you do every year. Hope and pray the forecasts for a strong El Nino are correct, but forecasts can often be busted and sometimes a storm like Florence will avoid areas hostile in El Nino years and do wild and strange things.
That's a track you rarely see.
But happens.
No one is marked SAFE during Hurricane Season..
...until holiday decorations are up
And November 30th is over!
Hope for the best.
But never rely on early season promises....
And alwaysfollow the advice of the NHC.
To start with follow their Hurricane Prep advice!
I doubled checked with Google AI
I mean Bertha sure shows up a lot....
.... hasn't been retired yet!
Ps what it didn't mention was 1996 was also Bertha.
May. So Much to Say. Prepare for Hurricane Season. Best Advice. El Nino No Guarantee U Won't Get a Hurricane! And Why?
Short on time today and yet I feel it's important to try and get across the idea that even in a weak hurricane season, your home town can be rocked and set back in time while it's being put back together for a long time to come. The 1921 Hurricane Season, far from a Super El Nino, but never the less there were less storms and yet one of the most impactful hurricanes in Tampa Bay made landfall in that year. Infact, Tampa Bay is more likely to be hit in a quiet year, than a busy year so keep that in mind.
Odds are a strong El Nino there are less hurricanes. Less hurricanes lower your chances of being impacted, but they do not promise you won't see a named hurricane.
Why?
Honestly Mother Nature, even in 2026, is hard to pin down to exactitudes. Friends in Montana and family in Colorado had Spring like weather throughout the depths of Winter. They sent pics of a "dusting of snow" recently the way people in the Carolinas are excited to see a dusting of snow in the Piedmont areas. And, then in May suddenly Mother Nature delivers a knock out punch with heavy snow on top of trees that not only budded but were filled with leaves.
El Nino can shut down the SW Carib, yet enhance offshore development near Florida (actually on either side) and close in development ups the ante for landfalls.
Heat Domes
can create a set up where low pressure forms to the South in the hot water of the Gulf. The water in the Gulf and close in becomes very hot during long, reinforced heat waves. And, early in the season frontal boundaries dangling in hot water have a way of trying to twist and spin. Big messy tropical rains early in the Season can overwhelm coastal towns and the Miami area has horrific drainage in such set ups.
SAL gets a vote.
MDR water temperatures get a vote.
The Loop Current gets a vote.
Surprise events such as Denver's May Snow Storm after mild, summer like hiking weather for months should be a lesson to how fast the atmosphere can flip, sort of the way the stock market as been this year. Sudden spikes after sudden drops. The UP and down nature of 2026 has been a signature.
So you do what you need to do. You have one job. Buy Supplies on sale when you have money in small amounts. Because if you don't and suddenly you are in Cone close in you may not have the money to buy them as you decided to take a cheap cruise to the Bahamas or blew it on Disney.
I know people who buy supplies at places such as Target that allow long term returns. I'm not saying that's the coolest thing to do, but it's a thought and it's better than nothing.
Remember Droughts are most often busted by a wet hurricane.
Tomorrow is May! May Brings Changes BUT Still Fronts Sliding Slowly Along... Watch For Close in Early Season Development. Hurricane Prep Impt Still
As move into May.... ..I want to highlight this post. There are still cold fronts.
I should put that like "cold fronts"
Temps lowered not really cold.
But... it's a concern for early in the season.
Note not a deep diving front
But a front.
When we have fronts on the move still in May (the edge of May let's say) we have to watch out for weak systems that form at the tail end of the fronts and while delivering a bit of a punch they are are reminders that we are moving into the Hurricane Season. I am not saying here something will form. I am saying this set up is ripe for either quasi development or actual development in May. We are 32 days away from Hurricane Season and it's time to think on several early concerns.
1. El Nino may come on strong and impact the Hurricane Season, but there's a window in the early season for development in places where normally El Nino would hinder. Don't take "El Nino" to the bank as much as hope it's a sign there are less torms and less storms mean a lower chance one may find it's way to your door.
2. Fronts on the move or more so draped lethargically across the Gulf can help spark early season development.
3. Water temperatures are only climbing. The news from South Florida this morning is it's gonna be "oh my God HOT" and the 90s are creeping into the picture. As the 90s creep in the water temperatures around the state of Florida dangling down into Hot Tub temperatures wills support early development.
I have always loved serendipity.
To drown out the news I put on YouTube.
Listening to some of my favorite weather people.
And he was pointing to the front I was writing about!
So took a screen shot and the link is below....
This is to show you exactly what I am mentioning.
We are in a pattern of change.
Last night in Raleigh we had a wild thunderstorm.
Okay a few minutes but first thunder in ages.
That was wild for me...
...then rain.
Heavy Rain.
Okay a burst of heavy rains.
Moving fast.
The Dry High Pressure is weakening.
Moisture is moving in more regularly.
And we have these weak fronts.
Again note heavy moisture feed from Pacific.
Up into the SW
Moving East.
Juicing up the atmosphere.
Note moisture congregating in SW Carib.
While El Nino may shut down the SW Carib.
It takes a while for El Nino to get it's Mojo going.
So there's a door left open currently....
So before we all get drunk on El Nino...
...start dancing the Conga Line
Know it we still have to worry on May June July.
In this neck of the woods.
Note S FL could use rain there's a bad fire.
Forest Fire and smoke hangs there.
Fire Season in the Glades comes before...
..drought busters in May Monsoons
And then Hurricane Season.
Mother Nature has a pattern how she works.
She does her job.
You do yours!
Shop for hurricane supplies.
Holiday sales and Clearance sales after work well.
My brother just called.
He's out in Weston working.
It stinks of smoke :(
Anyway ....
...watch for close in development early in the season.
The Trouble With El Nino................... the Hype is a Real Thing.............Godzilla El Nino? More Anticipation Than Star Wars! The Empire Strikes Back!!
No matter when I go on X it's El Nino Time! All day, all night. Okay, the Oklahoma Tornado did knock it off it's throne, but it bounced back fast!
The discussion is awesome. The discussion is delicious. But the hyperbole ...oh my goodness, send help!
The search for some new name for it has been exhausting to watch.
My gosh, just saying "El Nino is coming!" Wakes me up faster than a Triple Expresso! Seriously....
But it's the Super El Nino! I've heard words that normally would only be used to describe a Miss Universe who became a Super Star Singer with her own show larger than anything Taylor Swift could dream of and well you know she definitely has wild dreams.
I have read, watched and scrolled. I have bookmarked. I have wondered.......
I have stayed out of the fray as an old friend of mine always pointed out to me it was good to do sometimes. He had a brother that drove him crazy, it's a long story. But may I say........there's a chance this El Nino could be remembered the way 1997 "Mother of All El Ninos" was so who knows????
Going along with that frame of mind, I asked Google for advice. No, I never use Google advice as I always make up my own words as that is what I do but some were interesting...
Hmnnn I don't know.
We are dealing with the Atlantic Basin here.
Well Mostly...
I tried again........
Ocean's Relentless Stalker seems wrong..
..sort of sneaky, passive agressive.
Who wants a passive agressive El Nino?
Okay I will go with my literary history.
I do so love Tennessee Williams
"The Big Daddy of El Ninos!!"
You read it here first!!
Okay.
I think Big Daddy would have a lot to say here.
No promises.
No BS
No lies
Just tell it like it is...
Hard Truths on El Nino:
It's not about the number of hurricanes........
...its about the strength of the ones that make landfall.
Quiet SW Carib....
...doesn't stop Rapid Intensifiation close in to Florida
Or Louisiana
Or Mississippi
There are just so many factors that matter. Quieter seasons with "no neck storms" as Big Daddy would say are often boring, exhausting as a weak parade of weak storms trace each other in the Atlantic. No huge ACE and everyone holds their breath and waits, and waits watching each meager wave that doesn't do much until one does. Think Melissa! Think Andrew! Think Michael! Think Camille!
As I always double check everything before I post I checked and yes they were El Nino Years! So according to Google that seems to suddenly have a strong opinion!! That's all you need to know!
Every year there are predictions that seem set in stone, and yet they are merely thrown out into the online world hoping to get noticed, to gain traction and to elevate the algorithim! To keep the public interested and coming back for more...
Hot Water in the MDR (remember that one???)
Low Wind Shear in the MDR and then there was the Saharan Dust from Hell!
In truth something always pops up. Some wrench in the plan, some wrinkle the forecast did not see coming. A vigorous volcano blows in the Caribbean and suddenly what looked like a strong tropical wave train is derailed and the year turns a wave train that "can't keep my mojo going!"
What does Arizona State see that other reports do not? I will post that soon. Stay tuned.
Til then.........hang in there. Stay prepared. It only takes one! El Nino or No Nino Miami has been rocked by Andrew and the Florida Panhandle by Michael! El Nino was said to be weak in 1969 and the weak tropical wave that produced Camille did stay weak in the Neptunian Real of El Nino in the SW Carib but then as it cleared the Yucatan........oh my goodness!
Just hard truth.............
Don't buy all the hype..........
Buy hurricane supplies, hide them away from the kids, your partner or your own appetite!
38 Days til June 1st!
Mother Nature always delivers one way or the other.
You do your part, because trust me she will do hers..........
Sweet Tropical Dreams,
BobbiStorm
on X @bobbistorm mostly weather holding back everything in inside thoughts to just do weather
Drought in the Carolinas! Fire Weather .... Everyone Wants Rain.......... But a Hurricane Could be the Dought Buster in 2026.
In 2018
There's a drought in the Carolinas. There's a drought in the Southeast. There's fires from Florida up through the whole region lacking in rain. And every time someone goes on and on about what a bad drought it is this year, and it is and it's broken records in the general Raleigh area do I have to remind you that often in this neck of the woods a hurricane is what finally breaks the drought. Not always, but enough times. As for Florida where there's more fire bans than you can imagine at campsites around the starte, it's been a concern on the drought and fires.
Would not be surprising to get a named storm.
But that's down the tropical road...
Short post today but something people need to remember. When you need a Drought Buster, well you may not like what breaks the drought...
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