[Nancy Lynne]

My understanding is that although it can be an "oven" during the day...that the evenings tend to be glorious (well, maybe not glorious )...but better. Yes?

Also, if you are close to the water (on either side???) ...don't know if it applies to both the East and the West Coasts...does it tend to be cooler from the sea breeze?

Oh.......and it was 32 degrees here this morning...here comes old man winter.

[Prichard]

We basically have two seasons in Florida: Summer, which is Mid May through Mid October; and Sprall, which is the other 7 months out of the year.

Even native Floridians, like myself, don't get used to the heat. It gets HOT! It's hot, no rain, and humid from mid-may to July, and then hot, rainy and more humid during July, August, and September.

Here's what to expect during our extended summer: When you get into your car, put a towel on your seat so your legs don't burn, have little rags so you can touch your steering wheel. If you leave a dog (or child) in a car during summer for any length of time, it will be dead when you return. Nights are hot and very humid. It usually doesn't get much under the mid 80's during summer nights, and usually after the big thunder storms you can expect almost 100% humidity. If your house A/C isn't in good condition, it will freeze up on you from running constantly - they you will be without any air in your house for up to 5 days. The life expectancy of an a/c system in Florida is about 5-7 years. You can expect to get 12 years out of a 30 year roof. We don't have large attics in Florida, because you can't stand to be in one during the extended summer for more than maybe 3 minutes at a time. You will be perpetually sweating during our extended summer from the time you leave an airconditioned room and venture outside. Heat stroke is very common.

Thunder and lightning storms in Central (and the rest) Florida are violent! Tornados are common, people get struck by lightning regularly, houses go up in flames due to lightning strikes. If you have never seen lightning strike an object up close, move to Central Florida, and you are bound to see this first hand at some time. It looks like bright, liquid, molten silver splashing on something - saw a tree struck by lightning 5 feet in front of my car once; also lost several large pine trees to lightning strikes, and have personally known 4 people to be struck by lightning, one died. Personally, I'm scared to death of lightning and won't go outside during thunder storms.

The East coast gets a bit of a sea breeze from about April through mid-July. Then from the rest of July through September, it can be stifilingly hot even on the east coast. The West coast doesn't get much sea breeze. The middle part of the state, especially around Ocala, Gainesville, and down toward Okeechobee is like being cooked in an oven with no breeze whatsoever.

The problem with the sea breeze on the East Coast is that the breeze also reverses during the summer when the interior cools at night. This pushes all of the mosquitoes and noseeums out of the swamps to swarm the beach areas. Anytime there is no sea breeze, there are flys, mosquitoes and noseeums all over the beaches.

But, from mid-October through May, Florida truly is paridise. I guess you can't have paridise without hell.

[spunky]

It was in the 90s for several weeks in October this year-not uncommon. It was 90 a few days in November also.

[ready2move]

[quote=Prichard;194085]We basically have two seasons in Florida: Summer, which is Mid May through Mid October; and Sprall, which is the other 7 months out of the year.

Sprall, never heard that one, ROFLMAO

[BlueWillowPlate]

I am in the northwest. I am also 52 years old and got tired of being baked in Colorado's dry-roast summers. So take that into consideration.
There were a few mornings here where I took the dog for a morning walk and thought 'oh wow I am sweating like a pig and it is 9 am in the morning.'
And yeah the AC felt good.
This morning I had to scrape a bit of icy frost off the windshield. The leaves are red and falling here. (Which is a bit surreal as all the Christmas decorations around town just went up.)
I think it would have been a real shock for me to move from Colorado to the south of Florida. But we didn't. I like the change of seasons here.
The humidity makes me feel the cold more. However, the summer heat, while intense, was not quite as oppressive as the southern descriptions seem to be. But I dunno. Your mileage may vary.

[Nancy Lynne]

You depicted it so well...that as I was reading it...I began to feel like I was "cooking" in the oven.

Cheers!

[Nancy Lynne]

We have some times that like during our summers in the NE. I remember this summer, there was one week that I wouldn't let my son go to baseball camp because it was just ridiculously hot and humid...yep, it felt just like an oven...no air...no wind...just dead heat. We also lose power up here (our black outs and brown outs) when it goes one for awhile ---and --you have to laugh -- we stay inside until it becomes unbearable, then we go out and sit in our cars, take showers, etc. I remember it registered 109 degrees on my car at one point this summer. My flowers all died. The weird thing here is that it can be 75 one day and 35 the next -- as it was between this past weekend and today.

Where the heck to live??? Today, I looked at a tear-down....and I mean a tear-down....unihabitable on a 50X100 lot...they are asking $399,000 and the taxes are $5,000. What a mess this country is in.

Renting for now is a nice break from all the mega house responsibilities.

You guys chasing the hot new Nintendo WII like me are here? All the college kids are camping out in tents at ToysRus, buying them up, and then selling them on ebay.

[Prichard]

Nancy, I don't know where you are from, but let me tell you about a little English boy I happend to see once. It was sometime in July about 15 years ago. I was walking to lunch with some friends along Park Avenue in Winter Park. We were strolling behind this family of English tourists checking out the sites in Winter Park. It was a typical hot July day. Us Floridians tend to stroll slowly and move as little as possible during the summer. The more you move, the more you pour sweat.

Well, these English people were as pasty white as they come. The boy had to be about 11, his cheeks were flushed red, and he was crying (yes, in tears) about how hot it was. I recall him sobbing "mummy, mummy, its sooooo hot, I think I'm going to die, mummy." He was jumping around so much, it was just making him hotter and hotter! Eventhough they were in T-shirts and shorts, they all looked miserable. The mother, as understanding as she was, really didn't know what to do and couldn't help the little boy. He started getting kind of sluggish, and one of the guys I was with told the lady to get her boy inside some air-conditioning and get him some water before he suffers from heat stroke. She thanked him, but didn't listen to his advise - just made her boy suffer along.

I don't know whatever happened to the boy, but the Florida heat can make some northerners and Europeans feel like they are going to die; and if you or they ever get to that point, GET OUT OF THE HEAT!!! Please.

[FedUpInFtMyers]

Coming from the Midwest, I still have yet to experience humidity as I did in NW Indiana. That combined with the pollution and ozone problems there must have prepared me well for the Florida heat because I just haven't suffered from it at all, and I have been down in Florida for 8 years.

[firemed]

Originally Posted by FedUpInFtMyers

Coming from the Midwest, I still have yet to experience humidity as I did in NW Indiana. That combined with the pollution and ozone problems there must have prepared me well for the Florida heat because I just haven't suffered from it at all, and I have been down in Florida for 8 years.

Heatstroke is very bad in south Florida. Alot of people come here and can't deal with the heat.