In Sanford, we have only JUST started getting some afternoon rains, and the electrical part has been mild. I heard one really loud crack of thunder a couple of days ago, but mostly, it's just rumbling in the distance. And most days, the rain doesn't even come. We DID get a heavy soaking yesterday, much needed, but nothing special in the way of a storm. They must all be down your way, dragonfly.

Marcia

We had an unusually strong storm here yesterday. It reminded me of the hurricanes, as I watched the neighbor's Pines swaying, dropping branches, and the rain going sideways. Five of my tall Banana trees were blown over, broken in half.

We lost power 12 times in 4 hours. I think I'm noticing the storms more, after going through the hurricanes. I'm a Native Floridian, and I never feared the weather like I do now.

We get lightening every afternoon, even when it does not rain at all. That is quite normal though, for July.

Sorry about your Palm.. Tree removal can be very expensive, which is why we had to do of ours ourselves. You can get free estimates from tree removal companies in your area. There are lots of them in the phone book. Prices do vary, so get at least 3 estimates if possible.

Lisa

YES! I can't ever remember a summer with such violent storms. My house has been struck twice in the last month, I've replaced a washer and a fridge, had to repair a computer, lost cable for a week. Took forever to finally get the elctrical problem fixed from the lightning.

Yesterday, lightning struck the electric pole at the road, knock the power line into the road. I actually thought "oh good, it wasn't us". FP&L cut the line and moved it, the next FP&L truck cut the power at the pole and there went my electricity for about 5 hours.

I don't remember painting a bullseye on the roof.

We know a good tree guy in North Lauderdale who's reasonable if you're interested.

And yes, the lightning here has been WAY too close.

-Jen

Well I am glad (but not!) to hear that I am not the only "bullseye"!! We just went through another storm, but not so bad a yesterday's. Luckily we have not lost any appliances, computers, etc. I am constantly unplugging everything!

Jen-would love to have the contact info for your tree guy. DH thinks he can do it, I really just don't want him to get hurt. (Or damamge neighbor's house etc!!) It is unfortunately in my largest garden bed :-(. The lightning sent flowers ALL over the yard, and burn many of my snow-on-the-mountain bushes.

This pic was taken over 2 yrs ago, but you can see the large palm trunk, and the proximity of our fences etc.

Thanks for any info or tips on how to remove this!

here in deland we have gotten some whopper storms the past couple of weeks. instead of the usual intense downpour around 4p, the storms start early (noon) and then go on and on. yesterday was the worst one yet, i think. it rained for hours.

daytona beach and melbourne both set records for daily rainfall (records for the given date) last week -- melbourne got more than 3" and daytona got about 2.5".

there have been a series of very anomalous weather systems since spring -- HUGE fronts that push much farther s, into the peninsula than is typical. we're having one today:

you almost never see a front like this sink this far into FLA. these same kinds of large fronts explain 1) the exceptionally nice and cool spring we had; 2) why some parts of the state are drier than they've been in a century.

when i said that you never see fronts like this sink into FLA, i meant you never see them in the summer. they dominate our weather patterns in the cool, dry season.

Dragonfly, I'm also a native, born in Ft Myers. Where abouts? Where did you go to school?

Ill- That's just how it's being in Tampa, too. Early storms, with intense rain, wind and lightning.

It's being a wild ride, but this is why I'd never want to live anywhere else. I miss our storms when I've away. But we do have networked computers, and this week they got taken out by a lighting surge though the cable.

Im in Melbourne, and we have lived here since 61. Up till yesterday I haven't experienced such a sevear storm. I was ready to crawl under the coffee table with Franky my dog. LOL. The wind knocked two arbors over in my back yard. The wind and rain was realy intense. Sorry to hear about your Palm. There was a house near here that was hit and caught fire, caused about $200.000 damage. And we did have 3 inches of rain. The day before we had two.

Ill- Well I knew that there'd be a great scientific explanation out there!

Ambersky-Lived in Fort Myers 'til 3 yrs old, then moved to Cape Coral (Went to Cape Elem, Gulf Middle, Cape High (and a brief time at Mariner). Then moved to Orlando (UCF), then back to Fort Myers (Edison CC), then over to this coast (FAU-that was in 1994). Been here ever since. I so miss the west coast beaches! Still have family and friends there and try to visit, but not as often as I like! What about you?

Hopeful-I was asking DH what mattress are we going to drag into the bathroom to prepare for the tornado that I KNEW was coming! It was a scary storm!

I love the storms. It's part of "Living in Paradise".

We need the rain. Will take all we can get.

I would rather have these storms than a hurricane anyday.

Tropicalfreak

See, I feel like the last couple of years (ironically, corresponding to the time I've gotten serious about gardening) have been exceptionally dry and lacking in the traditional thunderstorm activity. I've lived in the Tampa Bay area for more than 20 years, and it seems like storms used to be much worse and much more frequent during the summer.

I kind of expect it to be perpetually wet during this time of year, and it isn't. We skip days between thunderstorms sometimes. Unheard of!

But I am with tropicalfreak, I love the storms and I'll take all the rain I can get right now... got plenty of things that need to get themselves established.

Frankly, I am digging these early storms that strike during what would be the heat of the day... takes the edge off quite nicely.

I love the rain! It is the freaky, high winds that disturb me. I used to love to see the wind blow, but that was before we lost all our big trees. When 40' trees bend over, that is SCARY!

I'm soo tired of the power losses. Every day that it rains, we lose our electricity.. Doesn't bode well for hurricane time!

I'm getting a sensor for the house that will call us if the temps get too high. If my dogs die from heatstroke from a power loss, I'm afraid of what I will do to FPL..

A good friend (a vet) came home from work one Monday last month to find her house an oven, and her 2 year old French Bulldog dead from heatstroke. Her other 3 (collapsed) were saved with emergency care. Her Mastiffs on the porch were fine-they had gone swimming in the morning, were wet, so were left on the screened-in porch with fans running. Her central A/C had failed. She had no way of knowing, until she got home. She now has a sensor.

If you have pets, and work, consider getting a Sensaphone so you will know when temps get dangerously high, or there is a fire or water damage.

I flat out do not trust FPL to keep the power on!

Lisa

Here is a link that might be useful: Sensaphone

What about a generator??

you know, i guess i hadn't realized that much of fla is still so dry. at daytona beach, the rain totals are more or less within the average. over the past two weeks, we've had alomst daily rain, sometimes a lot of rain.

but i looked at orlando and sanford, and it's still way below average. yikes!

last year, even tho daytona had the driest summer on record, it never seemed exceptionally dry here in deland. i don't remember running my sprinklers at all in july and august. it's sobering to look at the total rain deficit over the past couple of years. we are still about 16 inches short over the past two seasons. that's more than most places up north get in a year!

I was just yesterday, telling a friend of mine that I felt our weather patterns were 'weird'.
Remember when we could count on that 10-minute-long afternoon deluge?
Sometimes it'd be pouring in my yard with absolutely NOTHING comin' down across the street! LOL

I agree with the musicman....the cloud cover IS a welcomed change!

DragonFly- From 7th grade on, I went to Evangelical Christian School (Don't laugh, Cindee, it's true!), and graduated...earlier than you did! Date saved to protect the elderly.

I grew up in Page Park, and on Estero Island.

I agree, I LOVE the rain. What we really need is an all-day, slow moving soaker. These storms are driving through so fast that the rain just zips by (and most of it on my patio . .well my orchids like it!)

I hope that the weird weather patterns are not indicative of what the hurricane season will bring. I am so scared after Wilma, being a native, I am shocked how scary it actually was. I guess, for me, once I owned my home and land (the little bit of it there is!), having babied all these plants and trees, the heartbreak that you experience seeing them get ripped apart, it's really hard. I just hope we all make it through another stormy season safely!