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Weather in Florida is one of extremes.
However due to the Chamber Of Commerce tourism mentality dating
back to the 1920's, unpleasant weather events that could impact
tourism, etc. are distorted, concealed or outright lied about.
This website exists in an effort to present Florida as it really
is, not a paradise but a land of extreme and dangerous weather
events.
A Variety Of
Florida Meteorological, Geological And Environmental Facts:
1.) Florida's topography is not
totally flat as is presumed. Actually
deep under ground lie the
basement rocks of the Florida Platform which include
Precambrian-Cambrian igneous rocks, Ordovician-Devonian
Sedimentary rocks and Triassic-Jurassic volcanic rocks.
Florida's igneous and sedimentary foundation separated from what
is now the African Plate when the super-continent Pangaea (220
million years ago) rifted
apart in the Triassic and sutured to the North American Craton.
The peninsula is
shaped like an arch as you travel from the Gulf Coast to the
Atlantic Coast and the state is dissected by numerous NNW-SSE
oriented ridges with elevations exceeding 200 feet and in some
areas above 300 feet. Some of Florida's hills have as steep a
grade as any to be found in the S.E. U.S.
The highest point in the state is
located in the NW panhandle region at 345 feet and is named
Britton Hill. It is located near Paxton in Walton County.
However the point is not a hill at all but a plateau extended
southward from Alabama. The highest "real" hill is named High
Hill at 323 feet and is located near Chipley in Washington
County. Also very nearby is Falling Water Hill at 322 feet. Both
are located in the NW Panhandle region. There are at least ten
other named and un-named hills in the region that rise to
between 250-295 feet.
The highest point on the
peninsula is Sugarloaf Mountain at 312 feet near Montverde in
Lake County. Other unnamed hills associated with Sugarloaf
Mountain have elevations of 312, 310 and 307 feet. Near Lake
Wales in Polk County is Iron Mountain at 296 feet and near
Hillcrest Heights an unnamed hill at 294 feet. All of these
hills are part of the Lake Wales Ridge.
On the Brooksville Ridge near
Dade City in Pasco County is Clay Hill with an elevation of 301
feet. Clay Hill has the highest foot to crest rise south of the
Fall Line, which runs through Central Georgia. There are also
quite a few other hills both named and un-named that rise
between to between 200-280 feet.
The Brooksville, Lake Wales,
Lakeland and other ridges on the peninsula are eroded deposits
from the Appalachian Mountains and are 3-10 million years old.
On the ridges beneath the pockets of sugar sand and black muck
are thick gray to red gumbo clay deposits (Hawthorne Formation) identical to what is seen in
Georgia.
Last but not least,
near the beginning of time there was one very large continent
called Pangaea and Florida was actually a part of what is now Africa
between Morocco and Spain.
PENINSULA FLORIDA RIDGES AND HIGHLANDS
CLICK TO ENLARGE
100 PICTURES OF THE FLORIDA ALPS
2.)
A subfreezing minimum temperature (31.8 deg.) has unofficially been observed
in Key West, away from the waterfront.
3.) Though most
years it's just flurries, it snows somewhere in Florida
every winter. The most recent snowfall event observed on the
peninsula occurred in November 2006 and January 2003. Others
occurred in 1997, 1987 and December
1989. The largest official 24 hour snowfall is 4" at several
locations across the panhandle and northern peninsula. However
unofficial totals of 5-8" fell across the NW panhandle in
February 1973 and again in March 1993 with the inaccurately
media dubbed "No Name" storm. Also ocean, lake and hill effect
snow flurries occur on the central peninsula virtually every
winter. See the link below.
Snow showers fell across portions of the
central peninsula east of U.S. 41 and north of S.R. 50 during
the Tuesday evening-Wednesday morning period November 21-22,
2006, including the Orlando metro area. The snow showers were
the earliest ever observed in the state and reported
since European settlers arrived.
JANUARY
2003 NWS MELBOURNE, FL SNOW REPORT
WHITE CHRISTMAS 1989 & 2004
CLICK TO ENLARGE
4.)
It drops below 32 deg. every winter into the inland
Everglades southwest of Miami. Though the official coldest
minimum temperature ever recorded in Florida is -2 deg. below
zero in the panhandle north in 1899, an unofficial and accurate
reading of -6 deg. below zero was observed in the panhandle
northwest in January 1985.
The official coldest minimum temperature ever recorded on the
peninsula is 0 deg. at Bushnell in Sumter County in 1944 and
unofficially at nearby Ridge Manor in Hernando County in 1981.
For
more NON "Chamber Of Commerce" historic Florida
cold weather data see the link below.
5.)
Historically Florida has been very prone to hurricane strikes.
Due to very unwise coastal over development the Tampa Bay area
megalopolis of 3+ million people will eventually become victim
of the worst hurricane disaster in the history of the U.S., with
dreadful loss of life of up to 20,000 due to drowning and up to
$100 billion in property damage. In 2004 Hurricane Charlie
almost became the storm for Tampa Bay.
We have moved into
a new cycle of high tropical cyclone development similar to the
1920-1960 period. The 2004 Atlantic Basin hurricane Season
was the 6th consecutive year with above normal activity, with 10
out of the last 11 seasons above normal as well. The 2005
tropical cyclone season saw a record 28 named storms.
6.) Florida has experienced damaging earthquakes, though in most
cases the epicenters were located outside of the state border,
i.e. Charleston, SC region and eastern Gulf Of Mexico region. The
peninsula is bisected by two NW-SE oriented fault lines. Fortunately though the ancient fault lines have been dormant at
least since the arrival of European settlers.
On September 10, 2006 a magnitude 6.0
earthquake occurred in the eastern Gulf Of Mexico approximately
260 miles WSW of Tampa. The shake was felt all across the
sunshine state, westward into Louisiana and northward into north
Georgia. Here on the south
side of Lakeland in Polk County I felt a small vertical
undulating, giggling motion coming from the SW that lasted a
couple of seconds at approximately 11:00 am. I lived in
California in the early 1990's and felt many earthquakes, so was
able to make a good observation of the 6.0 Florida event. Below
is a link to the USGS documenting the earthquake.
USGS INFO ON 09/10/2006 MAGNITUDE 6.0 FLORIDA REGION EARTHQUAKE
7.) Florida has an exposed rocky seashore in the NW panhandle
and southeast coastal regions.
8.) Florida has productive oil and natural gas fields in the
SW Everglades and NW panhandle regions.
9.) Florida has a
naturally occurring black bear, crocodile, coyote and mountain lion
population, not to mention a sextillion blood sucking disease
carrying insects.
10.) Florida is aflame with colors virtually every fall season
in inland central and northern areas of the peninsula and
panhandle north, with a large variety of deciduous trees such as
Crepe Myrtle, Maple, Dogwood, Tulip, Hickory and Sycamore. The best
concentration of fall colors can be seen north of approximately
S.R. 60 and west of U.S. 27.
CENTRAL FLORIDA RED MAPLE
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11.) Florida is
over run with a multitude of non native plant and animal
species, plus rare and weird communicable diseases. The overall
affect on the environment has been very negative. Uncontrolled
development and population growth has also created many
environmental problems. The human population in Florida was
approximately 2.7 million in 1950. In 2004 it's estimated to be
18+ million. Unfortunately the state also has the highest crime
rate in the nation.
12.)
Florida is the lightning capital of the Western Hemisphere with up to 120
thunderstorm days per year. Lightning regularly strikes the
"LOWEST" object here on the peninsula, with many 1000's of
strikes per square mile annually. Only Central Africa (a much
larger region) has more
lightning strike occurrences. Ball lightning (plasma consisting
of protons and electrons) definitely exists, I've seen it do
damage. I appeared on TLC "The Learning Channel" as part of a
documentary on the phenomena of ball lightning back on September
7, 2001. The program was called "Great Balls Of Fire".
13.) Florida ranks #3 behind Texas and Oklahoma for tornado
frequency. Florida ranks #1 in tornado frequency per occurrence
for every 10,000 square miles. An average year brings 49
twisters, the most ever in one year 115 in 1997 and other years.
Fortunately though most Florida tornadoes are relatively weak.
Statistics compiled between 1950-1995 show 84.3% of tornadoes at
F0-1, 14.2% at F2 and 1.5% at F3-4. Fortunately no F5's have
ever been observed. Killer tornado outbreaks have occurred in
February 1998 with 42 deaths, March 1993, April 1966, March
1962, March 1939 and April 1925.
F1 TORNADO BETWEEN TAMPA & PLANT
CITY IN SUMMER 2003
AN F1 TORNADO IN POLK COUNTY IN
AUGUST 2008
14.)
Florida is
home to at least 700 artesian springs, including 75 with a water
discharge amount of the 1st magnitude. Water temperature varies
from 67-74 degrees. However one named Warm Mineral Springs near
Venice is an exception as water in the spring has been measured
at up to 100 degrees, because it flows from a deep source (3000
feet) where
the subsurface temperature is higher. Florida is also home to
30,000 lakes.
15.)
Visible Aurora displays have been observed in Florida. The most
recent "major" event occurred on March 24, 1989 with an
incredibly huge solar flare. Recent but lesser events occurred
on October 21-23, 2001, March 30- April 1, 2003, October 29-30,
2003 and November 20-21, 2003.
Occurrences of
visible Aurora in Florida is more common then most believe.
On October 29th, 2003 during one of the most Kp-9 extreme
geomagnetic storms in years Paul Gardener photographed visible
Aurora over Orlando, Florida.
OCTOBER 29, 2003 FLORIDA AURORA IMAGE BY PAUL GARDENER
CLICK TO ENLARGE
On November 20th,
2003 during another Kp-9 extreme geomagnetic storm more visible
Aurora was observed and photographed in the Chiefland area by
Mike Cressy and Gary Honis. I also observed the visible Aurora
here in Plant City, FL at 28 deg. N latitude.
NOVEMBER 20, 2003 FLORIDA AURORA IMAGES BY MIKE CRESSY
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NOVEMBER 20, 2003 FLORIDA AURORA IMAGES BY GARY HONIS
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ENLARGE
You can
contact me at
Thomas F. Giella
Lakeland, FL, USA
meteorologist at tampabay dot rr dot com
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