Life's a Coast

Important note and a word of caution for anyone in the south Florida area. A friend in the local medical community has informed us that cases of viral dengue fever (which can be fatal) has surfaced in Dade county (Miami), Broward county (Lauderdale) and possibly Palm Beach county (West Palm Beach). Although this has not and likely will not be publicized until the problem has grown much worse, we have noted that the dengue fever problem in Key West has finally been in the news of late, indicating that five percent of residents (about 2,000 people) now have it in their blood as carriers of the disease -- when a carrier is "bitten" by a mosquito, the mosquito can pass it along to others, and that is how the disease has been spreading since first found in 27 people there in the fall of 2009 (so, from 27 victims to 2,000 in less than a year and consider the "exponentially cascading" effect and lastly that there is no prevention or cure for the dengue virus...). As a result, we will be avoiding getting out for sunrises and sunsets, or much of anything else, when there is not much of a breeze -- the mosquito that transmits dengue fever, the small black "Asian Tiger" (deceptively looks like a black gnat), actively feeds all day and all night (not just at sunrise and sunset), is not a swamp dweller and conversely inhabits areas populated by humans (recently found to be breeding inside a Broward home in the water inside a "water pik"), and is not as stupid as normal mosquitoes (they do NOT fly around ears and face before biting) and conversely operates in "stealth mode" (very difficult to detect until after it bites). Early August UPDATE: local health officials have finally confirmed this and have issued an advisory; link to article on the advisory, and Dengue fever killing dozens in Caribbean, reaching epidemic stage. Mid August UPDATE. Another case of dengue reported in Broward county, but it is the first incidence of a person infected by diseased mosquitoes already living here, and this case was a different strain than the dengue fever that has sprang up in the Florida keys (where 5% of the populations tests positive for having been infected). Here is a link to an article about the situation, but be aware that the local tourist industry controlled media deceptively, misleadingly, downplays the reality and severity of the the situation. The bottom line is that only a few cases have been reported, but since the milder form of the disease displays symptoms similar to the flu or low grade food poisoning, likely many of those afflicted by it do not even know that they actually had dengue and therefore do not report it as such, so "where you see one alligator, there's bound to be a bunch more". Note that whereas dengue fever symptoms may be relatively "minor" during the first contraction of the disease by a person, but subsequent infections of dengue become more severe and tend to be fatal even on just the second bout of dengue fever -- realize that around the planet (mostly Africa and Asia), over 12,000 people die each year from viral dengue hemorrhagic fever...

Finally, a break from the August overcast doldrums. With Hurricane Earl approaching well offshore, we have begun to experience some strong winds, and that has cleared out the strangely unusual heavy cloud cover that has hung over the Sofla region for the last week or two. Seems that lower-than-normal high temps that we experienced this summer are starting their late summer decline here. Overall, the heat and humidity was not nearly as "mean" this "mean season", altho the strange weather this summer brings to mind the summer of 2005 and the acompanying raucous hurricane season of '05. And, we have just recently seen the barrage of tropical entities Danielle, Earl, Fiona, and soon to be Gaston float off of the coast of Africa into the bowling alley for hurricanes, with Florida being the front "pin" to be bowled over; luckily, the first three storms have all been "gutter balls" up the east coast (take that, New Yawkers and New Englanders)...

This year, August has been unusual in Florida, with the last week or so having been more like the early rainy season when the heavy unremitting rains produce daily deluges with some sunshine, only there has been a preponderance of cloudy conditions at sunset and at sunrise, some days all day long. Consequently, we have only managed to capture this one somewhat normal sunset video of late. Many locals here have observed that the conditions this summer have resembled those in 2005, when we were hit with three strong hurricanes and several tropical storms, and now, we have just witnessed three tropical entities out in the Atlantic at the same time, with one hurricane now headed for the New York and New England areas for Labor Day weekend...

An amazingly nice evening for mid August here, with temps in the upper 70's at sunset, low humidity, and a nice gentle breeze coming in off of the swamp...

At sunset, the tail end of the last cloud bank from the fizzling TD 5 was moving off into the gulf, so we are back to intense sunshine and warmer weather, but still cool for this time of year with highs in the upper 80's forecast for the next few days...

Sunset presented a short break in the cloudy, stormy weather we have been experiencing for the last several days with a "subtropical low" developing out in the Atlantic and slowly moving into our region, on it's way out into the gulf where it is supposed to have a 50% chance of developing to tropical storm strength and modeled to head straight for the gulf oil disaster area, of course...

A cool 76 degrees at sunset, with the arrival of our first unofficial "cool front" of the summer season rolling in from the northwest over the 'glades, a welcome respite from the relatively normal temps that we have been experiencing which seem fairly OK for early August -- but, the mean season doldrums approacheth...

Clouds from the frontal edge of Tropical Storm Bonnie were moving in from the the Atlantic at sunset...

After a blistering, wet month of May, followed by a cooler and drier than normal June, we are experiencing record or near record heat for the last several days along with occasional thunderstorms but still drier than normal for the "rainy season"...

For the last week or so, the high temps have been in the mid to upper 80's with the overnight lows in the mid 70's, with no noticeable humidity, very comfortable for natives. Plenty of sunshine, but showers can pop up any time of the day or night here, and that is what has been happening, as we are at the start of the rainy season, and shower and storm activity will gradually pick up from this point on...

Another gorgeous day but still cool only up into the mid 70's for high temp -- the weather peeps here are finally declaring that so far this has been the coldest month of March here ever, but we already knew that...

This form of exercise is called paddle boarding, and is often observed on the ocean when the waters are calm. At sunset, a cloudy squall line from a cool front was rolling into the area off of the everglades, the southern tail of the major blizzard up along the east coast...

A highly unusual day here today, as we were not blessed with any sunshine at all, an especially rare cloudy-all-day-long day for this time of year. They are talking about some kind of out of the ordinary summer like conditions out in the gulf continuing to roll in from the west over the Everglades, resulting in cloudy, rainy conditions in the middle of our supposedly sunny and warm "dry season".

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