Living anywhere takes adjustments

I grew up in a place where weather was gentle.  You'd watch the weather on the news but never had to worry other than if you were going to have a picnic or were outside waiting for the train.  Winters were the worst of it for me, and that is why I moved to Florida.   Spend a February in Philadelphia with a snowstorm every third or fourth day and you will know why.

Today we're finally going to get into the nineties.  33C for those who use the metric system.  Summer's here.

How do I know?  I can't see out my windows.   

I have a house not very far from the ocean so the winds coming in from the Bahamas pick up salt and sand and drop it here on my windows.  I hadn't had a problem with it and I can be tolerant of that sort of dirt.  After all the dirt is outside where it belongs and I don't have to clean it unless I want to watch the people in front of the house or see the pool when I go to the kitchen for coffee in the morning.  

The morning humidity for the next month is what I describe as walking into the bathroom after someone has just finished taking a shower.  On the other hand I've adjusted to the warmer temperatures that come along with dirty windows.  Sitting in my bouncy Poang Chair with leather upholstery under the ceiling fan means that until I get up and turn the air conditioner warmer, I'll be cold.

How cold is it?   It is 76 in the house.  Yes, a temperature that was warmer than I would heat the house to in Philadelphia in winter feels cold.

The other thing is that while I have always paid attention to the weather forecasts and considered becoming a meteorologist when I was young.  Forecasts become more involved and can be more important here.  In Philadelphia, if you want to know the weather tomorrow, look at Ohio.  Two days from now would be Chicago.  Weather comes from the West.  If you are in San Diego and today is 82 and sunny, tomorrow will be 82 and sunny. 

It is interesting to watch the radar here.  Weather comes at all directions.  Sometimes the morning storms that sit off the coast roll inland.  Sometimes it rains as a result and sometimes you merely have a dramatic sunrise like today.  Sometimes the afternoon thunderstorms over the Everglades roll to the coast and you get the 330pm showers that used to be here back in the 80s before people moved Over The Turnpike.  Now they may or may not make it here and they could just as easily fizzle out when the storms roll to the Turnpike.  Much less predictable.

Since we have the hurricane season started, I have begun to prepare.   Last night I went and bought 8 cases of bottled water and the beginning of the hurricane food.  I intend to have two full weeks of food here because they are predicting an active season.  Proof of that is that when I opened my morning web pages, there is a storm forming East of the Yucatan.   An "Invest" is what they're called, and it is not expected to do much but cause rain.

We could use rain.  I'm not concerned about this storm even though the path is predicted to come this way if it holds together.   It doesn't have much of a chance of forming at a predicted 1 in 10 probability.  

Until then... Stock Up and look over your shoulder.  There just may be a monarch butterfly parked there.