Greetings for the first time on this platform in over a month. And given the date that I am typing this, Feliz Cinco de Mayo! Sorry, my laptop keyboard is unable to type accent marks or the upside down exclamation point, so excuse the improper use of the Spanish language. It is, though, 5th of May...and a Friday, so PLEASE...celebrate responsibly if you so choose to do so.
And since it is now being the month of May, Justin Timberlake, that means that summer is just around the corner. Unless you're in Florida, where summer has a six-week head start, and here in Florida, the month of April was hotter than a Winghouse Girl fighting a forest fire (more on the fire part in a moment). Of course, it's not absurd in the least that it would be naturally warmer in Florida than the rest of the country this time of year, but in the Tampa Bay region at least, it felt more like late-May/early-June than mid-to-late April. Seriously, 96 for a high on April 29? That isn't beach weather, that's try to avoid a heat stroke at all costs weather. I recall visiting Weather Underground's website last week and there were unofficial weather stations that were recording temperatures in the triple digits. Triple. Freaking. Digits.
Not to mention, Florida has had a substantial lack of rain this spring. April showers bringing May flowers? Not this year. In fact, today the National Weather Service released its latest drought report for Florida, and it isn't good. A significant portion north and west of Lake Okeechobee is now under an extreme drought condition, and most of Central and Southwest Florida is under a severe drought.
And with the lack of rain comes the outbreak of wildfires, and just a couple of weeks ago, some significant wildfires forced evacuations in the southwest part of the state. But the fires near Naples and north of Okeechobee weren't the worst ones. That one belongs to the Okefenokee Swamp area, straddling the Florida-Georgia line (no, not country music's version of Nickelback) near Jacksonville. Officials throughout the state have issued burn bans in practically every county in peninsular Florida except in metro Jacksonville and metro South Florida.
The good news? The season of afternoon thundershowers should be arriving shortly, which could quench most of this state with some badly needed rain. Just as long as there are no major hurricanes threatening the state summer...
That's all I have for now. It's nearing 2am here but I'll be back with the next few days with more to write.
Until next time...
Bony Scribe
