Above and Below: Raccoons (Procyon lotor elucus) resting atop the fence near the pool. The raccoons have been swimming in the pool to cool off and escape the very warm afternoon temperatures. This afternoon temperatures topped out at 83° F (28.3º C), at least 10° above normal. Cloud free skies and a rising sun angle have made it feel hotter when one is in the sun. The current sun angle across central Florida is approaching 51º at mid-day, high enough to quickly cause sunburn.
On the immediate coast temperatures remain near 80º F. Inland it is much warmer.
If you think its hot now, however, think that in just 3 months the midday sun angle will be about 85º. . . or virtually directly overhead.
ANOTHER RAINY DAYTONA 500?
Rain chances increase starting Friday afternoon, Feb. 21, as surface and low level winds veer from southerly to SSW-SW ahead of an approaching cool front. Increasing atmospheric moisture and instability should allow for rain showers and a few thunderstorms to develop by late Friday afternoon.
RACE DAY FORECASTS
An unsettled weather pattern will remain in place throughout the coming weekend as the cool front stalls near or just north of Daytona Beach, draping itself across the state east-west toward Cedar Key. Increasing mid-layer flow and cold temperatures aloft should keep showers in the forecast for Saturday and Sunday afternoons. Computer models differ on how much rain might fall but all indicate that there should be enough moisture and instability in place to cause sporadic showers. The National Weather Service's Quantitative Precipitation Forecast currently shows up to 2 inches (51 mm) of rainfall might fall over east central Florida in the next 7 days (graphic above). This is a similar weather pattern to last year's Daytona 500.
SMOKY SUNSETS
Cloud free skies but plenty of smoke have made for some colorful sunsets.
Above and Below: More shots of the juvenile raccoons around the pool,
trying to escape some of the very early 2014 heat.
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Above: Smoke and news helicopters over dry lakes in east central Florida, February 2014.
NEWS HELICOPTERS
Covering Florida Wildfires
All the news helicopters from Orlando's major network stations were overhead one afternoon this week when one of the many dry lake beds in east central Florida caught fire. Using a high speed setting on the camera with a 600 mm lens I was able to get close ups of the helicopters and stop their blades spinning, so to speak. Above: WESH Channel 2, below WFTV Channel 9 and at bottom WKMG Channel 6 helicopters.
