Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 14/10/2026I 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 071
Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 13/10/2026There's the cloud left behind from the first stage's retroburn to get back to its Cape Canaveral landing 010
Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 13/10/2026Pre-dawn rocket launch resupplying the International Space Station (16x normal speed) 3141
Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 12/10/2026My 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! 030
Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 12/10/2026After 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! 170
Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 11/10/2026Here'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. 182
Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 10/10/2026Storm 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. 060
Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 08/10/20263 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. 040
Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 02/10/2026I 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. 171
Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 28/09/2026I 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... 190
Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 21/09/2026Lots of different bird species are stopping in my yard this morning as fall migration is peaking 050
Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 16/09/2026Went with a friend for the Pokemon 30th Anniversary card release this morning. 010
Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 08/09/2026This 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 1133
Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 07/09/2026A portion of Carolina Beach Pier has collapsed in the surf. 231
Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 07/09/2026The 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. 020
Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 07/09/20264.31" 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. 140
Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 01/09/2026We'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... 062
Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 30/08/2026This 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 050
Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 28/08/2026Our local newspaper (Wilmington Star-News) printed this awesome photoshop on September 8, 2016 171
Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 27/08/2026Almost 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. 040
Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 25/08/2026Big storms east of Cape Fear are putting on a spectacular lightning show tonight. The view from Wrightsville Beach is memorable. 051
Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 24/08/2026No cheating. Share the last photo of the sky from your camera roll (if you feel like it). 020
Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 23/08/2026Anywhere 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 070
Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 14/08/2026Little bonus thunderstorm just before sunset gave us a nice rainbow 030
Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 09/08/2026Six 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. 090
Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 29/07/2026I 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. 050
Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 21/07/2026Enduro on the Atari 2600. I think it was an Activision game. 000
Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 20/07/2026On my last visit to Atlanta I got to watch a powerline destroy itself outside my hotel window 150
Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 17/07/2026Its 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. 030
Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 14/07/2026One good floof deserves another. Here's Tycho! 010
Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 13/07/2026During 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. 110
Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 10/07/2026Wilmington 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 142
Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 09/07/2026It 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. 072
Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 09/07/2026Early morning rocket launch viewed from Wrightsville Beach, NC 1113
Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 08/07/2026101°F high temperature in Wilmington, NC this afternoon is the hottest here since May 29, 2019 #ncwx 051
Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 06/07/2026Here's my two mini house panthers Stormy and Shadow 151
Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 05/07/2026For what it's worth I still run Paint Shop Pro 4.12 from the 90s on a Win 10 PC 120
Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 04/07/2026Upwelling 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 270
Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 04/07/2026Watered plants before work this morning and unintentionally gave this little Squirrel Tree Frog a tour of the yard 210
Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 03/07/2026A 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 020
Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 01/07/2026Admiral 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. 321
Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 29/06/2026I guess it shouldn't be surprising, but until this morning I'd never seen a rabbit eat flowers from a Trumpet Creeper vine 020
Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 28/06/2026Inland 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. 010
Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 28/06/2026Europe'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 151
Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 26/06/2026An 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 041
Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 08/06/2026Working on the forecast and beginning to think parts of the Carolina sandhills and interior coastal plain may approach 100 degree heat this Friday. 470
Tim Armstrong @ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social · 05/06/2026I have five years of data from my rooftop solar array saying the esteemed Energy Secretary is a moron. 120