Day 13
13th July 2006
 

13th July 2006: Day 13

Storming shopping!
After yesterday's successful chase, we decided to take Thursday morning easy, by heading to the shopping mall. Well, one of us was taking it easy, anyway! Temperatures quickly nudged into the low 90s, and it wasn't long before the towering clouds had developed. Rumbles of thunder accompanied a short, heavy downpour at the mall, before another, more active thunderstorm approached from the south-east.

As this storm arrived, the gust front sent 40-50mph winds crashing through the shopping outlet. At this point, a CG nailed within 500 metres or so, and we decided to head to the Sunshine Skyway to watch the storm pass by.

Heavy rain and occasional lightning passed overhead, followed by rather dreary, cloudy conditions with light rain. It was very windy down on the lagoon, and the large puddles left behind once the rain cleared allowed us to put our Jeep to the test!

The evening remained cloudy but dry, with little activity to keep our interest for the rest of the day. If we'd seen today's storms at the start of our trip, we'd have been over the moon. However, after a fortnight of seeing such amazing thunderstorms, today's were tame!

Total mileage: 49
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Early afternoon at the shopping mall. As temperatures climbed into the low 90s, huge, towering cumulus congestus soon exploded skywards.
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Another trip to the Sunshine Skyway, as a large thunderstorm rumbled by to the south.
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As the thunderstorm approached, torrential rain could be seen bouncing off the water's surface across the other side of the lagoon.
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In the strong easterly winds and driving rain, small Tern-like seabirds all faced into the wind. They were enjoying it about as much as we were!
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Staying stream-lined resulted in staying as dry as possible!
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Bren puts the Jeep through its paces on the sands at the side of Tampa Bay ;-)
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That sinking feeling.
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