[laryb]

I find it amazing how little rain we get in the Village of Buttonwood. The sky gets dark, the rumbles and lightning flashes start, and then a few drops or nothing. In the past week, I've watched the radar and have seen approaching storms, and they always seem to dissipate when they reach here. Is it me, or do we get less rain in the Villages than the surrounding areas? And no, I don't think it has anything to do with the amount of rooftops and concrete, because if it did, NY, Philly, Chicago, etc. would be in deserts. This seems to have been going on for quite awhile, not just the past few weeks, and I'm sure people in other villages see the same thing.

[patfla06]

We live in Gilchrist and have had the same lightning and thunder but no rain the past few days.
Then last night we had a torrential downpour that hit our sliders.

We really needed the rain but it was scary.

[Arctic Fox]

Originally Posted by laryb

...I've watched the radar and have seen approaching storms, and they always seem to dissipate when they reach here...

We have been watching the radar for seven years (although not continuously!) and there is often a parting of the storm around TV at this time of the year. No idea why.

[Villager Joyce]

I don't have a rain gauge, but it came down by the buckets full in Hillsborough.

[Miles42]

Yes last night was a scary scene in Hillsborough. Huge amount of rain along with high winds.

[mjdollard]

Last night I left Fernandina with a few drops falling. I went over to Pinellas Plaza for an errand and then drove east on 466a. All of a sudden the skies opened up, very dark and enough water on the road that I considered pulling over. When I got past Colony Plaza, it stopped and the road was dry - not a drop had fallen.

[Bogie Shooter]

One of the big reasons that rain appears here and there is due to where the sea breezes collide.

The summer rainy season in Florida is marked by the onset of showers and thunderstorms associated with the daily migration of the East and West Coast sea breezes. Since the ocean is a transparent liquid the water is warmed by the sun to a greater depth than the land and as a result the water will gain and lose heat more slowly than the land mass.

As the land surface heats it in turn heats the air above it. The warm air is less dense and tends to rise creating a lower air pressure over the land than the water. The cooler air over the water then flows inland creating a sea breeze. In the evening the reverse occurs and the cooler air over the land will flow back toward the water creating a land breeze.

The incoming sea breeze creates a sea breeze front or boundary which acts as a lifting mechanism resulting in the warmer air rising up to higher altitudes creating cumulus clouds. Once the summer humidity establishes itself over Florida you begin to see the building towering cumulus clouds and the development of showers and thunderstorms with these boundaries.

Over Florida, these sea breeze fronts move inland from both coasts (Gulf and Atlantic) which is why Florida is marked by numerous thunderstorms which produce heavy rains and frequent lightning. Often these sea breeze fronts will collide causing severe thunderstorms to develop with damaging winds and often small tornadoes. A little know fact is that Florida has the highest number of tornadoes per 10,000 square miles than any other state. Fortunately these summertime tornadoes tend to be small and short lived, mostly F-0 to F-1. In addition, Florida is also the lightning capital of the US!

[kansasr]

If you look to the east from Buena Vista just north of 466A over on the Turtle Mound golf course you'll see a suspicious "silo" looking structure....it's actually a device installed by the developer to send out waves to cause the worst of weather to go around The Villages.

[DeanFL]

Blame this guy - he may have a home in TV... he's certainly old enough>


http://www.dvdizzy.com/images/t-v/te...ndments-07.jpg

[bluedivergirl]

We tracked 3.12 inches in Hillsborough. The DH spent the morning undoing the mess it left.

[outahere]

Originally Posted by laryb

And no, I don't think it has anything to do with the amount of rooftops and concrete, because if it did, NY, Philly, Chicago, etc. would be in deserts. This seems to have been going on for quite awhile, not just the past few weeks, and I'm sure people in other villages see the same thing.

I'm not a meteorologist, and don't play one on television, but..... I think the number of rooftops may be a factor. Unlike the major cities, the rooftops here are almost all at roughly the same height, and reflect heat up to the same altitude. We live in Hillsborough, and our lanai faces north, so without any homes behind us, I can see past the northern end of TV. I have noticed that on a partly cloudy day like today, there are far fewer clouds over TV, than over the surrounding areas. Unless it is an intense storm like last night (we got dumped on here), I think that reflected heat may actually cause the clouds to evaporate.

Just my $.02 worth........

[jimbo2012]

Originally Posted by bluedivergirl

We tracked 3.12 inches in Hillsborough. The DH spent the morning undoing the mess it left.

I agree 3"

the main thing was the wind, it had to gust over 50 a few times.

I had a screen blown out

[2BNTV]

If I remember correctly, it rained almost every day last summer. Sooner or later, the odds of getting sufficient rain will catch up to the average rainfall numbers. IMHO.

[kcrazorbackfan]

Originally Posted by Arctic Fox

We have been watching the radar for seven years (although not continuously!) and there is often a parting of the storm around TV at this time of the year. No idea why.

Probably because of all of the hot air flowing up from the squares from people fuming about saved seats or because of all the gases caused by dog poop?

[JC and John]

Our rain gauge in Sanibel showed that we got 6.93 inches of rain and clocked the wind at 22 mph. The rain and wind direction may have skewed the rain total a bit but it sure was coming down! At one point we couldn't see the house across the street. The thunder and lightning was enough to send one of our cats to wait out the storm crouched between the toilet and bathtub in our second bathroom. LOL!