Category: Weather

My Summer Vacation 2021 Road-Trip

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date July 1, 2021

It’s Part 4 of my multi-part Thursday blog series on my recent 77-hour / (4-day / 3-night) / 472-mile road-trip spanning Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, Martin, St. Lucie, Indian River, and Okeechobee Counties (in that order). It was my first extended visit ever along Florida’s Treasure Coast. While there I was always within about 5 miles of the Atlantic Ocean and the adjacent Indian River.

4 Thursdays ago was my 2ND full day exploring the treasure of Florida’s Treasure Coast. I awoke in my hotel room near downtown Vero Beach, and I drove over to First Watch for Breakfast. I could’ve walked over, but the skies were threatening with showers, so I played it safe. Over at First Watch they have an item known as the Floridian French Toast. Think French Toast topped with powdered cinnamon sugar and lots of fresh fruit – banana, kiwi, and strawberries. It’s amazing.

Time to work-off those calories. I visited Round Island Riverside Park – an Indian River County park off Florida’s State Road A1A (on the barrier island). It’s a fairly large park (83 acres) along the Indian River / St. Lucie County line, and I explored a small part of it via its nature trails, boardwalk, and observation tower. I would’ve explored more of it, but the mosquitoes were biting, and showers were in the area. This looks like a fun park to explore in the wintertime during a colder day when the mosquitoes are hibernating.

My next stop was the National Navy UDT-SEAL Museum near Fort Pierce. I was their first customer at 10 AM, and I spent a full 2 hours there. Admission was $12 for veterans (surprisingly not free for a military museum). There’s plenty to see and do both inside and outside, and you can easily – especially if you have older kids (teens) – spend a half-day there. As for me I took a lot of photos (40) – nearly all of them outside. The parking lot of the museum is also the parking lot for the adjacent public beach, so families could spend a half-day there as well. That sounds like a full day’s worth of fun via a single parking space. (I didn’t visit that particular beach.)

So that’s my Thursday morning. It’s just past high noon now, and I’m checking-in at the Heathcote Botanical Gardens in Fort Pierce (inland) off U.S. 1. Admission was free as a veteran. I spent about an hour there. It’s a small park (5 acres), and there’s some interesting things to see. I actually wrote a short 5-star review for it on TripAdvisor, so you can look for it on there. (TripAdvisor is another social media site that I’ve been on continuously for a long time – over 9 years. I’ve posted 76 reviews on the site.)

My next stop was the hard-to-find St. Lucie County Regional History Center. (It’s their county museum.) It’s been there for over 50 years, and it looks it. Nevertheless looks can be deceiving from the parking lot.

This place was rather extensive – both inside and outside. It’s part guided tour and part self-guided. This place greatly exceeded my expectations for it. I had a nice 80-year-old man – a fellow veteran who was once stationed (some 60 years ago) at Homestead AFB (where I work today) – guide me at the start of my tour. He was very knowledgeable with local history. He checked-up on me a couple of times during my self-guided tour. He’s a volunteer for the county’s historical society. Once I’m retired and relocated in a few years I’ll very likely do something very similar – that is – volunteer as a museum docent for the local historical society. I think it’s my calling (past and future). Several years ago I volunteered as a museum docent for two full winter seasons inside Everglades National Park. I really enjoyed that unique experience.

Well it’s time for an early-dinner now in Fort Pierce. (Remember this was 4 weeks ago.) When I continue this road-trip recap with Part 5 next Thursday we’ll visit the beach. In fact we’ll visit 2 beaches – 14 miles apart. Looks like there will be a Part 6 on the following Thursday after next, so brace yourself for more fun !

Tags Florida, Travel

Blogging Driving Food Movies Nature Photography Travel Weather

My Summer Vacation 2021 Road-Trip

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date June 24, 2021

It’s Part 3 of my multi-part Thursday blog series on my recent 77-hour / (4-day / 3-night) / 472-mile road-trip spanning Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, Martin, St. Lucie, Indian River, and Okeechobee Counties (in that order). It was my first extended visit ever along Florida’s Treasure Coast. While there I was always within about 5 miles of the Atlantic Ocean and the adjacent Indian River.

Last Thursday we left off at the Elliott Museum on the barrier island off the coast of Stuart known as South Hutchinson Island. From there I headed north along Florida’s scenic State Road A1A. I soon entered St. Lucie County, and once I reached the Fort Pierce Inlet I headed inland (along A1A since there is no bridge over the Inlet). In downtown Fort Pierce A1A and U.S. 1 share a concurrency for a little over a mile. A1A then heads back out to sea to the barrier island on the other side of the Inlet. I stayed on U.S. 1, and I took that most of the way up to Vero Beach – my hotel destination for 3 nights. Once I entered the city limits of Vero Beach I believe that it was the first time in my life that I had done so – as a 33½-year resident of South Florida.

After I checked-in to my hotel and room I walked over to the nearby Bonefish Grill. I got there a few minutes before they opened for the day at 3 PM. I was not only their first customer of the day, but I was their only customer during my entire meal ! The service was great, and the food was great. I think I’ve eaten at Bonefish Grill once or twice before in my life (while on vacation). There’s actually one about 18 miles from home, but I’ve never been to that one. (I should visit sometime. They are actually open for Lunch.)

After my early dinner I drove over to the local movie theatre in town to see “A Quiet Place Part II“. It was my first movie seen in a movie theatre in 2021. I saw 3 last year in 2020. During much of the 2010s I was averaging about 35 movies per year !

After the movie I headed over to South Beach Park (a city park) on the Atlantic Ocean. When I got there at about 6:35 PM I noticed that lots of people were leaving the beach and heading for their vehicles. I was the only person getting out of his car and heading towards the beach. Once I arrived surfside I realized why everyone was abandoning the scene – including the lifeguards. A raging thunderstorm was quickly blowing in from the sea. I took a few photos of the darkened sky, and I too headed back to my vehicle. I drove back to my hotel 2½ miles inland. It was starting to rain lightly as I walked inside my hotel. As it turns out the thunderstorm was a complete bust. It pretty much fell apart as it swept inland, and only light rain fell from it for a few minutes. I should have stayed in my car at the beach until the storm passed, and then enjoyed the beach after.

That’s the end of Day 1 of my road-trip adventures. That was Wednesday June 02ND 2021, and I drove 203 miles on that day. I’ll present Part 4 for you next Thursday, and we’ll head back over to the barrier island, and we’ll visit some fun places on both sides of A1A and U.S. 1 in the Fort Pierce area.

Tags Florida, Travel

Blogging Weather

South Florida’s Rainy Season

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date May 6, 2021

The #WeatherNerd in me wants me to write about the upcoming South Florida Rainy Season, so I shall.

For many years up until several years ago the start of the rainy season for each individual year was determined a couple of weeks after it got started. The loose definition of the rainy season are – increased nocturnal showers off the ocean, daily thunderstorms forming at midday where the Gulf and Atlantic sea breezes collide, early-morning temperatures not dropping below 72°F, and dewpoints constantly in the 70s. That daily pattern can start as early as late-April – and as late as early-June. The median start of our rainy season is right around May 15TH, and so several years ago the National Weather Service decided to discontinue the dynamic sliding start date of our rainy season and identify May 15TH as the static fixed start date of our rainy season – no matter the actual conditions at the time.

We generally receive about 70% of our annual rainfall in about 5 months – from May 15TH to October 15TH (the static fixed end date of our rainy season). It generally works out to about 4 to 5 feet of rain (48 to 60 inches / 120 to 150 centimeters). Some rainy seasons are wetter than that. Some drier. Last year some parts of South Florida received nearly 110 inches of rain (280 centimeters) for the entire year !

There are actually “mini seasons” within our 5-month rainy season. June is generally our wettest month of the year. Then it gets somewhat drier in July. (July is also our hottest month.) August and September are wetter with the arrival of the peak of our hurricane season. Then it starts drying-off again in October as our rainy season comes to a gradual close and continental cold fronts begin approaching and moving through from the north.

We actually get cold fronts coming close and coming through well into May and sometimes even into June. The cold fronts this late in the year stall near or directly over us and then eventually dissipate. It’s the old decaying cold fronts that usually kickoff our rainy season each May. Speaking of which – we have a cold front headed this way that should stall out directly over us tomorrow and into the weekend.

We’re still a couple of weeks away from the start of our rainy season for this year, and I’m actually looking forward to it. My car is dirty.

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Weekend Kickoff Mini-Thoughts

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date January 28, 2021

It’s Thursday, and it’s the start of a fresh new weekend of blogging. Longtime readers of my blog will know that this was once a Thursday night tradition. I only do this every once in a while these days. It’s my ‘Mini-Thoughts’ – a rapid-fire session of random thoughts on my mind right this minute: