“You’re Gonna Miss the Rain”
That’s what people would tell me when I would say that I was leaving Oregon and moving to Florida. If there’s any truth to that it’s that living here in Florida made me appreciate the rain a bit more. The rain in Oregon is cold, constant and makes most people miserable, myself included. I’ve always been a sun worshiper and a fish out of water, even when I lived in Oregon. So moving here was much like returning an injured turtle back to sea, and put me in my element.
It does rain here in the Sunshine State, quite often actually. In fact there’s an entire season dedicated to it, it’s called hurricane season. You may have heard of it. Annual precipitation in Florida is about 1/3 MORE of what it is in Oregon, but it’s a warm monsoon type rain. It often comes in heavy and leaves as quickly as it started and before you know it, it’s back to the business of blue skies and sunshine again. I love the Florida rain.
So do I miss the rain in Oregon you ask? As my friend Cory recently put it, “Do you think people that move from LA miss the smog?”
Feeder Bands
All week we’ve been getting hit with feeder bands from Tropical Storm Debby. Feeder bands are bands of clouds streaking out from the extreme edges of a tropical storm or hurricane. They call them that because they pull moisture up from the ocean “feeding” the clouds of the storm.
In the first photo you can see the distinct line when the feeder band is coming in, making it’s way to the right. The 2nd picture is of the other side of the band with the sun setting behind it. You can see just how dark the clouds were at the top of the picture, enough to make the sun disappear completely before emerging on the other side.
The Sunless Sunset
Today was a day of rain. Not the usual crazy stormy weather rain, but just plain old rain…constant all day rain. It was enough to spark a flood watch for most of South Florida and to cause Fort Lauderdale to cancel the final day of the air show. Seeing grey days like this makes me wonder how I did it so long in Oregon where it would rain like this for weeks on end without a break. It’s not easy to live without the sun, but many have learned to do it. I know I did, but obviously I could only do it for so long. Here’s a sunless sunset pic and a reminder of what’s on the other side of the clouds.
The Perfect Storm
Everyone knows about how rainy it is in Oregon and that there is a lot of it. What they don’t know about is the rain in Florida. It never rains in the Sunshine State unless there’s a hurricane there right? Not true. In fact the annual average rainfall of Miami is almost twice as much as it is in Portland, Oregon. So how can Florida maintain it’s Sunshine State title with all this rain you ask? Because it has the perfect storms. Storms that are so condensed and efficient that they roll in without much notice, take over the city and flee the scene all in a matter of minutes. Dumping tons of rain, wind and lightning before it’s on to the next town to wreak havoc upon them. Before you know it, the sun is shining and it’s business as usual again. Portland has a constant drizzle that puts out 36 inches of rain every year. Miami’s sh*t or get off the pot attitude puts out 62 inches on average each year.
This is a photo of a mild storm this weekend, there were even tornado warnings with this one. My next post will be from this same night.
Beauty of Florida 