Category: Weather

Categories
Blogging Geography Travel Weather

El Niño Winter

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. I was previously planning to write about “The Cars Of Sebring” as a continuation of last Thursday’s fascinating post on “The Birds Of Sebring”, but I decided to change the script and write about the weather instead. (It’s always an easy subject to write about for me.) Don’t worry – those cars will be reported on next Thursday (unless I call another audible).

It’s been a cold week so far here in the Heartland of Florida. (As a refresher – the Heartland is that mostly rural inland region of South-Central Florida that’s southeast of Tampa and southwest of Orlando.)

Due to a plunging jet stream and trough in the east with several strong cold fronts sweeping through – December and January-like temperatures invaded the Heartland (and all of Florida). The 50s actually made it all the way south to the Everglades in South Florida, and the 40s (even mid-40s) poured into the northern suburbs of the Tampa Bay area. We actually set some record low daytime high temperatures this past Monday and Tuesday – with the low-70s – or about 15°F below normal. (Our normal high for this time of the year is still the mid-80s, and our normal low is still the low-70s here in Sebring.)

We dipped down to 52°F here in my part of Sebring with wind chills around 48°F on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings at dawn. It felt good and weird – like we suddenly plunged into winter after 5 months of a hotter and dryer than normal summer. I had to dig-in to my limited winter clothing collection.

Our rainy season has ended. September 30TH is generally the unofficial end of the rainy season here in the Heartland. (It’s October 15TH in South Florida.) We’re now in our 7-to-8-month dry season when we get just 30% of our annual rainfall.

But it’s an El Niño Winter, so that means cooler and wetter than normal for Florida (all regions). So far – it’s living up to its reputation. This is (already) our strongest El Niño since the Winter of 2015-2016, and that was one of the strongest ever recorded. (This one likely won’t be as strong.)

Unfortunately – El Niño Winters also bring severe weather to Florida, as the leading edge of this early winter weather arrived after a confirmed 6 tornados (EF0 to EF2) in the Tampa Bay area last week.

Fun Fact: That strong El Niño Winter of 2015-2016 ? I recorded an unprecedented 13 days in Homestead Florida that we did not reach 70°F. (Normal is 6.)

Want to learn more about El Niño (and La Niña) ? The NOAA does a very good job of explaining it here.

So – it should be a very interesting winter season here in Florida. I’ll keep watching and studying it just like I’ve done for the past 45 years, and I’ll even post pictures of it occasionally.

Next #TravelThursday – I’ll tell you all about the cars of Sebring – unless I change my mind again. Let’s keep traveling together.

All rights reserved (c) 2023 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

Categories
Blogging Driving Geography History Nature Travel Weather

Pioneer Daze 2023

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. It’s an active week this week with the Sebring Historical Society – the organization that I’m an active member and volunteer of. Yesterday (Wednesday) was our weekly social and meeting. I attend for both. The social is important in that it’s fellowship with my new friends who share a common interest with me – to preserve, protect, and promote the history of our small town. The meeting is important as we find out what’s going on in relation to that, and our future plans as a result of that. Today (Thursday) it’s our monthly spaghetti dinner, and that will look a lot different than it has recently since we will be in a new building that we recently acquired (at least temporarily).

I look forward to both events this week. I also look forward to next month when we add our quarterly luncheon as well as a first-time special event at the local sports arena. If it’s successful – then it may become an annual event for our local community. Read all about it, but please forgive all of the misspellings. I had nothing to do with this flyer:

In the months to come I hope to spend more time working with the Sebring Historical Society including serving as a docent at our museum and gift shop at the Charles F. Weigle House Museum.

Next #TravelThursday I’ll reveal my retirement date from the USAF after almost 39 years, and I’ll reveal the 2-to-3-week road-trip that will follow shortly thereafter. Let’s keep traveling together.

All rights reserved (c) 2023 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

Categories
Blogging Driving Geography History Nature Travel Weather

Cedar Key Florida

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. 6½ years ago on Monday February 20TH 2017 (Presidents’ Day here in the U.S.A.) I visited Cedar Key Florida along the Nature Coast (the “Big Bend” region) for the first and only time.

Back then this blog was solely on Facebook. Here’s what I wrote about that visit a few weeks after:

We’re up to Day 6 now of my recent 1,226.5-mile “Spring Break Florida Road-Trip”. Coming out of Tallahassee at dawn on a Monday morning in February (Presidents’ Day in fact) I took U.S. 27 eastward (eventually joined by U.S. 98) into Perry, and then I continued on U.S. 98 through the Big Bend region. My first stop was my very first visit ever to the Cedar Keys. About 700 residents live on the main tiny island full-time, but the population swells to over a thousand during the winter “snowbird” season. I spent over an hour touring Cedar Key Museum State Park. It includes two museum buildings, a raw nature trail, and the rocky Gulf Of Mexico coastline. Oh yeah – and lots of biting bugs.

Fun Fact: Making a cameo appearance above is my very first Honda Civic – a 2015 LX. (I now own my 3RD Honda Civic.)

Cedar Key Museum State Park, the islands, and the surrounding area was recently devastated by the effects of Category-3 Hurricane Idalia. For the latest news and information regarding Cedar Key visit their Chamber Of Commerce home page.

Next #TravelThursday I’ll introduce you to “Pioneer Daze 2023”. Let’s keep traveling together.

All rights reserved (c) 2023 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

Categories
1990s Blogging Career Driving Geography Home Military Travel Weather

From Melbourne To MacDill

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. In last week’s edition I wrote about my hectic 6-months right after Hurricane Andrew destroyed Homestead Florida. That’s when I was driving back-and-forth between Fairfax County Virginia and Prince Georges County Maryland (Andrews AFB) along the Capital Beltway and also through Washington D.C. I put a lot of miles on my red 1989 Geo Spectrum sedan back then, but I was not yet done.

I drove / moved to Melbourne Florida in March 1993 – just a few days before “The Storm Of The Century” swept through the U.S. Eastern Seaboard bringing hurricane-force winds, sub-freezing temperatures, and even snow to North and Central Florida.

5 months later in August 1993 I was offered a job on the opposite coast over in Tampa at MacDill AFB. I accepted, but I kept my home in Melbourne. I ended-up living in a hotel (paid for by the USAF) in Tampa, working on-base during the week, and taking I-4 and U.S. 192 back to Melbourne on most Friday afternoons – returning back to Tampa on Sunday afternoons.

That was about a 140-mile drive in each direction, and it took anywhere from 2½ to 3 hours. That was also back when I freely drove on Interstates and high-speed expressways. (I don’t do that anymore.) That was also when far less people lived along the U.S. 192 corridor from Melbourne through St. Cloud and Kissimmee to Walt Disney World. Back in 1993 into 1994 St. Cloud had a population of about 15,000. Now it’s over 65,000. Kissimmee is up from about 35,000 to over 80,000. That’s a lot of traffic along U.S. 192 these days. It wasn’t too bad back in 1993.

That back-and-forth commute between Melbourne and MacDill lasted about 7 months until March 1994 – when I moved back to Homestead Florida. For a short period of time I thought that I would live in Melbourne for the rest of my life. But then when I got the job at MacDill AFB I thought that I would eventually move to Tampa full-time and live there for the rest of my life. Then I moved back to Homestead for the next 29 years.

Now I have my longtime Homestead home – and my new Sebring home. And I have a commute of about 185 miles that I do several times per month. I haven’t gotten tired of it yet. I enjoy the scenic and mostly rural drive. I enjoy seeing my church family and even some of my coworkers at my longtime workplace in Homestead. But I especially look forward to the return trip back north again to my new home and pre-retirement life and times in Sebring. I plan to live there for the rest of my life – less than 2 hours away from both Melbourne and Tampa.

Next #TravelThursday we’ll check-out Weeki Wachee Springs. Let’s keep traveling together.

All rights reserved (c) 2023 Christopher M. Day, CountUp