Every Cloud Has a Silver Lining

(some of these look pretty neat enlarged)

What a difference a day makes. Or in this case, a night. Seems the wheels have turned a good 90-180 degrees in areas around the state overnight, leaving it's logo across the sky this morning. Nocturnal and early morning thunderstorms lined the continental shelf off the Cape causing launch cancellation and marine mayhem. Landlubbers bathed in ignorant bliss under their sheets with eyes shut while Mother Nature took to the skies. But today she dealt a difficult hand to contend with. I'll stay with the hand I've got and lay it out straight and hold, praying I don't get trumped.

Basically what we've got is upper level winds out of the WSW and low-mid level steering out of the SSE-SE. Most of peninsular Florida has resumed it's 'spongy' characteristic' this morning unlike yesterday when a rare 'cold front' made an unseeming visit to the state from the North Pole (?) and drying out the entire northern half. Go back Santa, it's not your time, yet. We've got bigger eggs to fry during Thunderstorm and Hurricane Season than wrapping tidy bows around neatly packed trinkets of admiration.

So, in essence we have a fairly uniform onshore steering flow (on the east coast), moisture, and a mildly unstable atmosphere without any triggering mechanisms and no cap. But the gods have at least provided some moisture which will be lacking by tomorrow under subsidence as well, so we'll give it a shot today and call for early-middish/late afternoon rains for the east half of the state..and mid to late-ish/evening thunderstorms on the west coast. I have a feeling thunder might be lacking on the east coast today, but seems more likely the further west one goes where the CAPE will pile up under more prolonged daytime heating and the easterly flow.

I'm not really hoping for anything 'siggy fun' today...although their might be a very pretty sunset if enough clouds clear out (assuming there are many to clear out..). But all in all, despite the fact there isn't a cloud in the sky now and all the morning activity offshore seems to have made for a hasty exit, things could be interesting today. The real shift in the pattern really doesn't commence until about 11am. From that time on it will spend the day establishing itself. I'm looking for rain on the east side from 1:30pm to 5:00pm time frame and about 1- 1 1/2 hours later as one works west. Not chasing today unless I want to end up in Tampa Bay at 8pm and contend with a long drive home through Orlando. I'll sit tight and pray some early stuff induces a waterspout just offshore, although I'm not hedging any bets on the possibility...I'd have to toss the hand I was dealt in for a new one.

Tropics. I remain in the coffin. Let this 'whatever it will be' that's developing east of the Bahamas do whatever it's going to do...just get it over with and by pass to the east and north so we can resume our normal routine. I'll awaken in mid-September when the atmosphere has had a time to recycle.