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Tim Armstrong

@ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social
372 followers 357 following 468 posts

NWS meteorologist in Wilmington, NC, USA⛈️ Environmentalist, retro gamer, gardener, birder and space afficionado🚀 Perhaps the oldest Hatsune Miku Colorful Stage player Loves: democracy, empathy, Star Trek, Epcot, anime, and cuddly housecats 😸

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Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
I spent a few hours cleaning trash out of Smith Creek here in Wilmington with a coworker as part of this year's National Weather Service "Autumn of Service" volunteer program. Most common trash: plastic water bottles and styrofoam. Oddest trash: a car bumper and a fire-proof lock box
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Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 13/10/2026
There's the cloud left behind from the first stage's retroburn to get back to its Cape Canaveral landing
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Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 13/10/2026
Pre-dawn rocket launch resupplying the International Space Station (16x normal speed)
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Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
My Satsuma tree (a type of mandarin orange) is the only one still small enough I could cover it from the cold. It's thrived this year!
Owari Satsuma fruit
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Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
After six nights at or below 20 degrees F last winter (including one night at 16 F/-9 C) I didn't know if my Ichang Lemon tree would bear fruit. It did!
Ichang Lemons
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Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
Here's a long loop of Hurricane #Isaias and its post-tropical transition. The trailing convergence band produced a number of tornadoes across central and eastern North Carolina today.
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Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
Storm surge from Hurricane Isaias is increasing on the Florida Gulf Coast. Apalachicola and Panama City Beach tide gauges are showing water 3 to 4 feet above normal and rising.
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Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
3 to 5 inches of rain is forecast to fall across coastal North and South Carolina over the next few days. Although Hurricane Isaias will make all the headlines, Hysplit ensemble back-trajectories show moisture feeding the heavy rain here should originate from the Caribbean & Atlantic, not the Gulf.
Five day rainfall forecast from the NWS Weather Prediction Center. Coastal North and South Carolina are forecast to receive 3 to 5 inches of rain.NOAA Hysplit ensemble back-trajectory model at 700 mb (3200 meters) shows air parcels arriving over the coastal Carolinas during the heaviest of the rain Saturday night will likely originate from the Caribbean and Atlantic.
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Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
I visited the NC Agricultural Research Station near Whiteville this week to present them with an award for providing 15 years of daily cooperative weather observations to the NWS in Wilmington. Their staff were beginning to harvest peanuts in the surrounding fields.
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Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
I finished up a project this morning documenting tropical storm and hurricane peak wind gusts in Wilmington back to 1871, and in Myrtle Beach back to 1941: www.weather.gov/ilm/Tropical...
List of hurricanes and tropical storms to affect Wilmington, NC
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Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Lots of different bird species are stopping in my yard this morning as fall migration is peaking
Red-eyed Vireo in a magnolia treeWhite-eyed Vireo in a Live OakA young Gray Catbird sitting in a American Beautyberry bushA Veery (a migratory thrush) in a Camellia bush
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Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Went with a friend for the Pokemon 30th Anniversary card release this morning.
Pokemon 30th Anniversary cards bought from Target this morning Zapdos from Pokemon 30th Anniversary
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Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
It's Jelly Palm season!
Butia odorata
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Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
This turbolift exchange between Mark Twain and Counselor Troi sums up what Star Trek means for me: one day humanity really will leave our medieval past behind us and figure out how to build a better tomorrow for all people. #StarTrek #StarTrek60
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Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
A portion of Carolina Beach Pier has collapsed in the surf.
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Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
The frogs and toads voiced their approval with this chorus that went on throughout the evening. Pretty sure the loudest of these calls are Eastern Spadefoot toads.
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Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
4.31" of rain from Sunday's thunderstorms made yesterday the wettest day in my backyard since Hurricane Dorian dumped nearly 8" back on September 5, 2019. Shown here: MRMS average return interval and radar precipitation estimates.
MRMS analysis images showing average return interval in years for precipitation on the left, and radar-estimated precipitation on the right.
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Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
We're coming up on the 30th anniversary of Hurricane #Fran, the last major (cat 3+) hurricane to directly strike this portion of North Carolina. My office is hosting a free webinar with audience Q&A Tuesday September 1 at 7:30 pm EDT. Sign up here: register.gotowebinar.com/register/778...
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Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
This morning's Roman telescope launch wasn't visible from here (bright sky, too late after sunrise) but watching NASA's livestream reminded of this January 2023 Falcon Heavy launch I did get to see from Wrightsville Beach. This launch happened just after sunset and had perfect illumination
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Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Our local newspaper (Wilmington Star-News) printed this awesome photoshop on September 8, 2016
A humorous headline from the Wilmington Star-News: "The USS Enterprise was caught on camera by a drone photographer moments before crashing into the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge following a deadly raid by a squadron of Klingon fighters Wednesday evening"
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Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Almost every NWS office across the southern U.S. has issued an extreme number of Heat Advisories this year relative to normal. This year's departure from 2005-2026 is shown here.
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Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Big storms east of Cape Fear are putting on a spectacular lightning show tonight. The view from Wrightsville Beach is memorable.
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Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
No cheating. Share the last photo of the sky from your camera roll (if you feel like it).
Growing cumulonimbus cloud with a small pileus cap
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Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Anywhere from 4-6 inches of thunderstorm rain earlier this weekend kicked Wilmington's drought in the teeth, but also washed out at least one road in town www.wwaytv3.com/flooding-was... Plenty of runoff cleaned out all the hot, salty water from Smith Creek as measured by UNCW's gauges wl.cormp.org
MRMS precipitation estimates of 4-6 inches across across a good portion of northern New Hanover County in the Cape Fear region of North Carolina. Gauge measurements confirmed these totals.Water level, water temperature, and salinity measurements from UNC-Wilmington's river gauge on Smith Creek at North Kerr Avenue in Wilmington
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Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
Little bonus thunderstorm just before sunset gave us a nice rainbow
Rainbow on the west side of a decaying thunderstormRadar image of a thunderstorm over Wrightsville Beach
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Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
Six years separate these two pics of Longleaf Pines I planted in my yard back in 2019. Over 90 percent of the historic Longleaf population has been lost across the Southeast US due to pressures from logging, suburban sprawl, and fire suppression.
A tiny Longleaf Pine in its grass stageRapidly growing Longleaf Pines with an expanding understory of Sago palms.
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Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
I spent 18 hours on Amtrak on the Northeast corridor over the past week and loved watching the scenery. In addition to avoiding the stress of I-95, trains are electric from Washington DC northward making it a low-carbon way to travel.
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Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
Enduro on the Atari 2600. I think it was an Activision game.
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Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
On my last visit to Atlanta I got to watch a powerline destroy itself outside my hotel window
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Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Its bark is much worse than its bite, for now. NHC has a 30 percent chance of development on this disturbance with model expectations that anything that develops would drift north or northwestward next week.
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Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
One good floof deserves another. Here's Tycho!
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Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
During a drought in 2011 a fire burned into the peat soil in the Holly Shelter Swamp near Wilmington. The local Nature Conservancy folks took this picture of how deeply the peat burned away, leaving dead trees perched on skeletal roots.
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Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
Wilmington just recorded its third consecutive day with 100 degree high temperatures. This has only happened three times previously since 1874: 6/29/2012 to 7/1/2012, 7/7/1977 to 7/9/1977, and 6/25/1952 to 6/27/1952. #climate #heat #Wilmington
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Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
It just hit 100 degrees again today in Wilmington. Since records began in 1874 there have only 12 times with multiple days of 100+ heat here, most recently (prior to today) July 7 and 8, 2012.
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Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
Early morning rocket launch viewed from Wrightsville Beach, NC
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Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
101°F high temperature in Wilmington, NC this afternoon is the hottest here since May 29, 2019 #ncwx
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Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
Here's my two mini house panthers Stormy and Shadow
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Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
For what it's worth I still run Paint Shop Pro 4.12 from the 90s on a Win 10 PC
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Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
Upwelling caused by offshore winds has knocked water temperatures at Duck, NC down by 13°F in the past few days www.ndbc.noaa.gov/station_page... #ncwx
NDBC 5-day plot of water temperatures at Duck, NCWindy.com ECMWF 10-meter wind showing southwesterly (offshore) winds across the NC Outer Banks
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Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
Watered plants before work this morning and unintentionally gave this little Squirrel Tree Frog a tour of the yard
Squirrel Tree frog (Dryophytes squirellus)
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Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
A very well-defined #landbreeze front pushed off the North and South Carolina coast early this morning, triggering a thin line of shallow cumulus clouds. #ncwx
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Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
Admiral Fitzroy, 1st Chief of the English Weather service, tried forecasting the weather for a few years and then committed suicide. Mark Harrington, 1st Chief of the U.S. Weather Bureau lost his mind after a few years of service.
A excerpt from former Wilmington Weather Bureau meteorologist-in-charge Reuben Frost about the concerning fates of early meteorologists.
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Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
I guess it shouldn't be surprising, but until this morning I'd never seen a rabbit eat flowers from a Trumpet Creeper vine
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Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 28/06/2026
"Archer" was the store brand name for Radio Shack supplies, mainly electronics-related equipment like this copper antenna wire.
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Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 28/06/2026
Inland temperatures may become even more extreme: Raleigh, NC has an NBM ensemble mean high temp on July 4 of 106°F which would tie the city's all-time high. The 75th percentile is 109°F which is only one degree away from the all-time state record held by Fayetteville at 110°F.
NBM forecast meteogram for Raleigh, NC showing intense heat building there too this week
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Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 28/06/2026
Europe's heat wave becomes our own this week. The NBM mean forecast high temperature for July 4 is 101°F in Wilmington, NC. If we reach that, it will be the hottest here since 2019. The ensemble 75th percentile is 104°F which also happens to be the all-time record high for Wilmington. #ncwx
NBM ensemble forecast meteogram for Wilmington, NC showing intense heat building for the July 4th holiday
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Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
An M5.7 earthquake centered west of Tokyo this morning was discernible on a railway cam in Fuefuki City I often watch. Watch the overhead lines sway at 22:29:11 on the clock. #earthquake #japan
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Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
Working on the forecast and beginning to think parts of the Carolina sandhills and interior coastal plain may approach 100 degree heat this Friday.
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Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 06/06/2026
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Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
I have five years of data from my rooftop solar array saying the esteemed Energy Secretary is a moron.
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