Tim Armstrong
@ilmthunderstorm.bsky.social
NWS meteorologist in Wilmington, North Carolina, USA⛈️
Environmentalist, retro gamer, gardener, birder and space afficionado🚀
Loves: democracy, empathy, Star Trek, Epcot, anime, and cuddly housecats 😸
Environmentalist, retro gamer, gardener, birder and space afficionado🚀
Loves: democracy, empathy, Star Trek, Epcot, anime, and cuddly housecats 😸
www.fly.faa.gov/adv/adv_spt
38 days working without pay and our nation's air traffic system is breaking down before our eyes. "Staffing triggers" is FAA-speak for where flights are being curtailed because there aren't enough controllers to safely handle the workload. This list will grow.
38 days working without pay and our nation's air traffic system is breaking down before our eyes. "Staffing triggers" is FAA-speak for where flights are being curtailed because there aren't enough controllers to safely handle the workload. This list will grow.
November 8, 2025 at 4:28 PM
www.fly.faa.gov/adv/adv_spt
38 days working without pay and our nation's air traffic system is breaking down before our eyes. "Staffing triggers" is FAA-speak for where flights are being curtailed because there aren't enough controllers to safely handle the workload. This list will grow.
38 days working without pay and our nation's air traffic system is breaking down before our eyes. "Staffing triggers" is FAA-speak for where flights are being curtailed because there aren't enough controllers to safely handle the workload. This list will grow.
My solar panels just reached 50 megawatt-hours of energy production since their installation in May 2020, offsetting over 34 tons of CO2 emissions from coal and gas power plants. #solar #electricity
November 5, 2025 at 6:12 PM
My solar panels just reached 50 megawatt-hours of energy production since their installation in May 2020, offsetting over 34 tons of CO2 emissions from coal and gas power plants. #solar #electricity
Just watched the venting second stage pass overhead from today's launch of an Ariane 6 rocket. It carried the Sentinel-1D satellite to orbit.
#Ariane6 #Sentinel-1D
#Ariane6 #Sentinel-1D
November 4, 2025 at 11:10 PM
Just watched the venting second stage pass overhead from today's launch of an Ariane 6 rocket. It carried the Sentinel-1D satellite to orbit.
#Ariane6 #Sentinel-1D
#Ariane6 #Sentinel-1D
#Geology and #Halloween go together like chocolate and peanuts
November 2, 2025 at 11:23 PM
#Geology and #Halloween go together like chocolate and peanuts
Happy Halloween! 🌀
November 1, 2025 at 5:24 AM
Happy Halloween! 🌀
"Last chance to protect your life" may be the most severe headline I've ever seen in an official NWS product. #Melissa now at 892 mb and 185 mph.
October 28, 2025 at 2:06 PM
"Last chance to protect your life" may be the most severe headline I've ever seen in an official NWS product. #Melissa now at 892 mb and 185 mph.
Hurricane #Melissa's satellite appearance is frightening. 906 mb and 175 mph winds, will impact Jamaica tonight into Tuesday.
October 27, 2025 at 9:14 PM
Hurricane #Melissa's satellite appearance is frightening. 906 mb and 175 mph winds, will impact Jamaica tonight into Tuesday.
Zooming in on Melissa's eye...
October 26, 2025 at 6:32 PM
Zooming in on Melissa's eye...
For the second year in a row I helped coworkers clean trash out of Smith Creek here in Wilmington. It was a stunningly beautiful day with sunshine and lower 70s.
October 25, 2025 at 12:43 AM
For the second year in a row I helped coworkers clean trash out of Smith Creek here in Wilmington. It was a stunningly beautiful day with sunshine and lower 70s.
I wasn't sure if the clouds or sun angles would work out, but caught a glimpse of this evening's Starship Flight 11 looking south from Wrightsville Beach, NC. The rocket was traveling eastward just south of the Florida Keys and across the Bahamas with venting gasses lit up by the sun.
October 14, 2025 at 12:07 AM
I wasn't sure if the clouds or sun angles would work out, but caught a glimpse of this evening's Starship Flight 11 looking south from Wrightsville Beach, NC. The rocket was traveling eastward just south of the Florida Keys and across the Bahamas with venting gasses lit up by the sun.
Less than a month until my backyard crop of North Carolina citrus is ready! Changsha Mandarins, Ichang Lemons, and Owari Satsumas.
October 13, 2025 at 9:41 PM
Less than a month until my backyard crop of North Carolina citrus is ready! Changsha Mandarins, Ichang Lemons, and Owari Satsumas.
Hurricane #Helene was tearing through the southern Appalachians one year ago today. An excellent recent blog post from the NC Climate Office @ncsco.bsky.social puts the storm's impacts in historical perspective. #ncwx
September 27, 2025 at 10:31 AM
Hurricane #Helene was tearing through the southern Appalachians one year ago today. An excellent recent blog post from the NC Climate Office @ncsco.bsky.social puts the storm's impacts in historical perspective. #ncwx
Forty-one years ago (Sep 12, 1984) Hurricane Diana was about to make landfall near Cape Fear just south of Wilmington, NC. My storm history page: www.weather.gov/ilm/Diana1984 #ncwx
September 13, 2025 at 1:52 AM
Forty-one years ago (Sep 12, 1984) Hurricane Diana was about to make landfall near Cape Fear just south of Wilmington, NC. My storm history page: www.weather.gov/ilm/Diana1984 #ncwx
High tide on Bradley Creek #WilmingtonNC
September 11, 2025 at 2:12 PM
High tide on Bradley Creek #WilmingtonNC
Hurricane #Erin's waves were impressive at #Wrightsville Beach yesterday evening. During the time I watched the surf was roughly 5 feet with occasional 8 foot breakers. Wave period was 16 seconds! Surfers were the only people brave enough to be in the water.
August 21, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Hurricane #Erin's waves were impressive at #Wrightsville Beach yesterday evening. During the time I watched the surf was roughly 5 feet with occasional 8 foot breakers. Wave period was 16 seconds! Surfers were the only people brave enough to be in the water.
I spent last week exploring #Yellowstone Park, one of the most unique places on the planet. An infrared camera showed how seemingly-featureless ground in the Monument Geyser Basin was actually very hot in spots from hydrothermal activity.
August 21, 2025 at 3:03 AM
I spent last week exploring #Yellowstone Park, one of the most unique places on the planet. An infrared camera showed how seemingly-featureless ground in the Monument Geyser Basin was actually very hot in spots from hydrothermal activity.
Wilmington's temperature has dipped below 70 degrees F for the first time in 58 days. This is tied for the second longest streak of 70+ low temps since records began here in 1874. All four of the longest streaks of 70+ degree temperatures have occurred since 2012. #ncwx #climate
August 3, 2025 at 7:20 AM
Wilmington, Myrtle Beach, and Lumberton just recorded their warmest average July low temps on record.
August 2, 2025 at 6:24 PM
Wilmington, Myrtle Beach, and Lumberton just recorded their warmest average July low temps on record.
80 degree dewpoint at ILM during the beginning of my shift tonight
August 1, 2025 at 6:13 AM
80 degree dewpoint at ILM during the beginning of my shift tonight
Some 60kft storms across eastern NC this afternoon too!
July 28, 2025 at 1:03 AM
Some 60kft storms across eastern NC this afternoon too!
It's been a good summer for early morning rocket launches. This was SpaceX Starlink 10-26 on a northeasterly trajectory, viewed from Wrightsville Beach, NC. I got great views of the first stage entry burn off the Carolina coast and second stage flight.
July 26, 2025 at 9:53 AM
It's been a good summer for early morning rocket launches. This was SpaceX Starlink 10-26 on a northeasterly trajectory, viewed from Wrightsville Beach, NC. I got great views of the first stage entry burn off the Carolina coast and second stage flight.