G6-Florida’s Summer Thunderstorms-Approaching-02
It’s another summer day at the theme parks near Orlando in Central Florida. The day starts off muggy. The locals know what that means. The tourists are here to see the many attractions and ride the rides. They are not ready for the bad weather that may be coming their way. Everyone thinks the weather in Florida is always sunny and warm. While that is mostly true, non-natives may not know about the dangers of Florida’s climate.
Florida is known as the Sunshine State. While there are many sunny days, this same sunny energy helps to create frequent summer storms. In fact, Central Florida is near the top of the list when it comes to number of thunderstorms. Being a peninsula, Florida is surrounded by warm water. This warm water is the perfect breeding ground for strong thunderstorms. On most summer afternoons, the conditions are ideal for storm development.
Most summer mornings in Central Florida start off fairly similar. Temperatures are usually near 80 degrees or warmer. On most days, the dew point almost matches the temperature. This makes the air very heavy with moisture. Any outside surface may be wet from dew. This dew is caused when the water vapor condenses on surfaces. Dew usually forms overnight. It happens when warm moist air comes into contact with cool objects. When air cools, it holds less water vapor. This results in some of the water vapor changing into liquid water. This process is called condensation. The heavy morning dew removes any doubt the air holds a lot of moisture. This moisture will be the main ingredient for afternoon thunderstorms.
The morning Sun quickly evaporates the dew. Uncovered surfaces, such as the grass or a car windshield are soon dried by the Sun’s energy. As the day continues, the surface of the land warms more quickly than the waters of the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean waters. The warmed air over the peninsula becomes less dense. The cooler moist air over the Gulf and Atlantic Ocean moves in to fill the void left by the rising air.
