I asked my son the other day, “Is this it? Is it starting?” His answer, “Yes.” The beginning of the rainy season! I’ve been noticing for the last several weeks big, fluffy thunderheads building over the Everglades, but each one seemed to get swallowed up over the swamp leaving Naples a bit more muggy in the afternoon, yet still thirsty. Now those clouds are getting pushed a bit further west and the afternoons are punctuated with red exclamation points on the Weather Channel, warning of heavy rain and thunderstorms!
When you grow up in the west, thunderstorms are usually reserved for midsummer monsoons and rain is always welcome, unless you’ve planned a picnic, bike race, outdoor wedding, or something else along those lines. Here in Florida the rain has an entire season named after it. Of course, part of that season it has to share with its big brother….”Hurricane Season”, but since we are still a few weeks away from that I’m just going to focus on the “Rainy Season”.
Florida can get some serious rain! No, I mean it! It falls in curtains! Heavy, shimmery, dark silver curtains, determined to cut off all visibility! No windshield wiper has yet been invented that can keep up with it. I’ve been caught on the road during several of these outbursts of nature vs man. They are terrifying! No less so than driving in a blizzard! Perhaps a bit less slippery. You’re more likely to end up off the road here in the rain because you couldn’t see it and randomly drove off instead of sliding off in the snow, because suddenly your car has just given up on the idea of ever finding any traction. The end result is roughly the same.
Having had these white knuckle, fail to breathe until you’re about to pass out experiences on the highway during Florida’s rainy season before, the beginning of this season brings with it much trepidation for me. When I see those red “heavy rain” warnings I check the clock and determine if I can run my errands and be home before it begins. If not, errands will wait for another day! Us westerners moved east are a tough lot, but we’re not foolish!
Floridians talk about water a lot. Have you ever seen an aerial map of Florida, or even just looked out the window of an airplane on your way to Orlando or Miami? This state doesn’t appear to have any shortage of water. It’s everywhere! Ponds, lakes, rivers, bays, Atlantic, Gulf, canals, and swamps. Everywhere! What’s not on the ground is in the air! So, when they talk about the need to conserve water us western transplants wonder, what are they talking about? What are they doing with all that water? You want to see a lack of water, check the desert southwest!! When they say no water, they mean No Water!!!
The natives here are glad to see the return of the rainy season. The grass is greener, the trees happier, and the air heavier. Folks may not like the mosquitos it brings with it, or the sauna like days, but water is life and we’re all grateful for that. Gazing out the window I notice, here we go again.