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7 July 2008
Day 10

07/07 Day 10

The day the Gulf Coast lit up

It was another sunny, hot start to the day, perfect for spending a few hours lying on the beach and bobbing around in the bath water that is the Gulf of Mexico. We headed down to Coquina Beach, on Anna Maria Island, at 9am and spent a couple of hours in paradise. As thunderstorms developed far out over the Gulf waters, we took on a spot of snorkeling. It wasn't hard to find marine life, as they literally found us. Within seconds of being in the water, shoals of small fish swam up to us and used us as shelter and protection (possibly from the large, dive-bombing pelicans), swimming alongside us wherever we went. They even took on a spot of feet-nibbling when we stood still for any length of time.

However, we couldn't spend all day frolicking - there were storms to be chased! By early afternoon, a mass of thunderstorm activity was developing over the eastern and central portions of the peninsula. The storms were all heading slowly west or north-west, so it was only a matter of time before they encountered the west coast sea breeze.

We headed to Zolfo Springs, as usual, but didn't need to venture much further before we encountered a good-looking area of thunderstorms moving north-west. These quickly engulfed us and sent us scurrying further west towards Bradenton, chased the whole way by exceptionally gusty winds. Ahead of one of the storms, a dust devil picked up debris and rubbish, sending it skywards. As we continued westwards, large boundaries from the storms which had overtaken us, slammed into the west coast sea breeze.

Thunderstorms erupted almost the entire length of Florida's west coast. Some storms were severe, including one just to our west near Sarasota. Lightning was frequent and rain was torrential. Our rain gauge in Bradenton picked up 60mm (2.4 inches) of rain, much of which fell in just an hour, increasing the water levels in both the swimming pool and the neighbouring lake. We headed westwards through the rain to watch the storms briefly to our east from Longboat Key. However, as these slowly died away, we decided to return home.

During the late evening, in the hours approaching midnight, a huge area of thunderstorms developed over south-west Florida, with smaller storms in the interior. All of these storms were visible in the night sky from Bradenton, with lightning flashing every few seconds. The clouds lit up from within beautifully, although being 50-100 miles away, there was no thunder to be heard.

Total mileage: 180
 

GPS route: Bradenton-Zolfo-Longboat Key.
Map from Google Earth.
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9:30am - hardly a soul on Coquina Beach as the Florida sun rises in the sky.
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Although this resident had probably been on the beach all night! A yellow-crowned night heron.
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Bren takes on the Gulf of Mexico as thunderstorms rapidly develop on the horizon.
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A disused pier - perfect picking grounds for hungry herons.
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A little bit of paradise.
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South of Zolfo Springs by early afternoon and the first of the thunderstorms were erupting.
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This one particular line, currently over Arcadia, was especially impressive.
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Bren sets up the camera equipment ready to go!
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Radar grab showing line of storms developing through DeSoto a nd Highland Counties.
Radar from GRLevel3.
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......whilst Laura retreats to the rear of the car to escape both the heat and the encroaching lightning.
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A large outflow boundary from the storm erupts to form new storms.
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And within minutes, these new storms are dumping rain and lightning in equal quantities.
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Radar grab showing thunderstorm approaching Zolfo Springs. Outflow boundary is showing up to west of storm, coinciding with the time we drove through and experienced strong winds (position shown by car marker.
Radar from GRLevel3.
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Parked up west of Zolfo Springs, as skies darken over the railroad crossing.
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Evil skies.
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The west coast sea breeze encounters the east coast breeze/storm outflow boundaries and erupts.
Radar from GRLevel3.
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A wider view of Florida, showing how the west coast sea breeze fired storms the length of the Gulf coast.
Radar from GRLevel3.
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Heading back home just east of Sarasota; a severe warned storm turns day to night as it throws out lightning, rain and hail.
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Back near Coquina Beach, watching the same storms but viewed from the west.
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A nice rainbow to end the evening once again, after the torrential rain had passed.
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Time to reflect on the day's events.
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