Wrote and produced a Thanksgiving love song for my wife Leonor Maya Martinez (Mama) about our life here now on #LakeHuntley in Lake Placid, FL.
What do you think?
I can write and produce one for your special person, occasion, product, or brand.
Thursday, 8-21-2025
By R. Michael Brown
Huge perfect surf from Hurricane Erin at Flagler Pier in North Florida.
Even though the storm is 600 miles away this morning, the swell is still pumping in, even from the backside of the hurricane.
Waves are overhead – look closely at the outside sets to see surfers ripping it up!
Video 3:03 min. Surfers riding overhead waves, clean up set, offshore winds.
Check on the current surf conditions with our FREE Florida East Coast Beach Ad-Free Webcams here on BrownieBytes.NET
BTW, all the construction equipment and material is for the rebuilding of the pier that was damaged by a hurricane years ago.
8-17-2025 1 PM
By R. Michael Brown, Writer and Multimedia Producer
Erin’s top winds have weakened, so the storm is now a Cat 3.
The National Hurricane Center is predicting that winds will increase to 145 mph in the next 24 hours making the storm a strong Cat. 4. They slowly decreasing after that. However, after the rapid intensification over the last 48 hours to a Cat. 5, the models still have difficulty predicting storm intensity.
Windy. As of this afternoon. is predicting really big surf in the 6′- 9′ range north of Palm Beach. Only big wave spots like Pump House, Reef Road, Monster Hole, RC’s will be able to handle a swell that size.
Most of Erin’s effects in Florida will be from Palm Beach County north. But, from the Windy wave forecast, it’s possible to get 5′ – 6′ in mid to southern Palm Beach County.
The wave window is Tuesday PM until Thursday PM.
Check on the current surf conditions with our FREE ‘Live’ Florida East Coast Beach Webcams here on BrownieBytes.net
“Rough Surf, Dangerous Rip Currents:” Hurricane Erin Boosts to Cat 5
Hurricane Erin strengthens into a Category 5, as it moves north in the Atlantic and experts warn of potential dangerous (and possibly) epic waves.
Swell-chasers and wary coastal property owners continue to monitor the trajectory, and strength of Hurricane Erin, as it continues toward the east coast.
The storm is currently looming over the Caribbean, with a trajectory moving northward, with a path that curves away from the eastern seaboard, away from landfall, yet still sending stormy conditions (and potentially sizable swell) to the east coast.
AccuWeather Lead Hurricane Expert Alex DaSilva, called the conditions “near perfect,” when it comes to the storm strengthening on its path.
“Erin is forecast to slowly curve to the north as it continues to strengthen over the weekend. At this time, the storm is forecast to remain hundreds of miles off the East Coast,” DaSilva said. When it comes to the waves, he continued:
“Beaches along the entire East Coast, from Florida to New England and Atlantic Canada, will likely experience rough surf and dangerous rip currents as Erin tracks north and eventually northeast.”
Here’s the latest from the reliable forecaster Bryan Norcross:
Norcross is known for his matter-of-fact content and delivery without all the hype from others that is intended to scare folks and get clicks.
Check on the current surf conditions with our Florida East Coast Beach Webcams here on BrownieBytes.net
The Klyuchevskoy volcano on the Kamchatka peninsula in Russia’s far east has started erupting after Wednesday’s powerful earthquake in the Pacific, Russian state news agency RIA reported, according to Reuters.
The volcano is known to be the tallest active volcano in Eurasia.
The massive quake struck on Wednesday morning in Russia, generating a tsunami of up to 4 metres (13ft) on the country’s east coast, damaging buildings and prompting evacuation warnings in the region and across most of Japan’s east coast, officials said.
A powerful magnitude 8.8 earthquake off Russia’s far eastern Kamchatka Peninsula triggered tsunami waves of up to 5 metres (16 feet) nearby and sparked evacuation orders as far away as Hawaii and across the Pacific on Wednesday.
The tsunami wave swept away buildings on the coastal area of Severo-Kurilsk, the main settlement on Russia’s Kuril Islands in the Pacific. The regional authorities declared a state of emergency but mayor Alexander Ovsyannikov said all residents were safe and had been evacuated. The country’s emergency ministry said parts of the town had been flooded. The tsunami alert was later cancelled in Russia’s Severo-Kurilsk, state-owned Tass news agency reports.
More than two million people were evacuated in Japan, including workers at the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant in northeast Japan, who were evacuated, with plant operator Tepco saying that “no abnormality” had been observed at the site.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said initial reports indicate no safety impact for nuclear power plants along the Pacific Coast, Reuters reports
Japan later lifted all tsunami warnings, downgrading them to a tsunami advisory, Reuters reports, citing the Japan Meteorological Agency.
Broadcaster Asahi TV reported a 58-year-old woman died when her car fell off a cliff while she was evacuating in central Japan’s Mie prefecture, Reuters reports.
Hawaii downgraded its tsunami warning to advisory and lifted its evacuation order with people able to return to their homes.
The Klyuchevskoy volcano on the Kamchatka peninsula in Russia’s far east has started erupting after Wednesday’s powerful earthquake in the Pacific, Russian state news agency RIA reported, according to Reuters.
Authorities in Central and South America have ordered evacuations and issued tsunami warnings.
Tsunami waves began hitting the Marquesas Islands in French Polynesia early on Wednesday, but the waves were forecast to be smaller than initially feared, local authorities said.
The National Tsunami Warning Centre (NTWC) said a tsunami advisory has been cancelled for coastal areas of south Alaska, the Alaska peninsula and the Aleutian Islands from Chignik Bay, Alaska to the Samalga Pass.
The NTWC said a tsunami advisory has been cancelled for the coastal areas of British Columbia from the Washington/British Columbia border to the British Columbia/Alaska border. A tsunami advisory is now cancelled for American Samoa, Reuters reports.
Seaweed is invading South Florida beaches again this summer. From Miami Beach to Ft. Pierce, Florida, the sargassum bloom has impacted beaches with up to shin deep stinky weed.
Click images to enlarge:
It’s caused by fertilizer runoff and pollution in the Atlantic Ocean and greatly impacts the Caribbean and Florida beaches. Since I reported on the first major Sargassum Seaweed bloom over 10 years ago, we’ve had a couple times that was almost this bad. Hopefully it won’t get as bad as the first:
Seaweed Invasion Continues in Palm Beach (scroll down)
See our Surfcam webpage to see live shots of beaches from Boca Raton to St. Augustine
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