Good evening everyone!

Finally getting some rain here in west St. Pete right now. It probably will not amount to much, but anything we can get is well needed right now.  It’s a pretty healthy shower with lightning and thunder, the first of the summer rainy season. Summer is also bugs and critter season, so I’ve done a short write-up on this as well.

Good news tonight is that invest 94L has been reactivated by the National Hurricane Center. 94L remains in the same place that we left it a few days ago near the Cayman Islands. The track has changed however, although the forecast comes with some uncertainty.  The very weak low pressure center will move north to NNE across Cuba and into the Florida Straits.  We will have to see exactly how far west 94L gets to know how much precip may fall across FL. South Florida and the Keys will have the best chance at rain due to the proximity of the storm.  There is a possibility that 94L will be just far enough away that it will actually dry Florida out.  Winds coming out of the north on the west side of the system will bring continental air down out of Georgia, actually drying us out even though 94L may be 100 miles from FL. The very high levels of shear that we saw before have gotten stronger and will continue to rip 94L of all of its showers, which will be blown to the east.

I do not anticipate any development from 94L do to the very high levels of shear and land interaction, but what I do anticipate is a season of critters!  Last week with the very strong easterly winds, the east coast had to deal with enormous amounts of jellyfish along the coast. I heard reports from Jacksonville to South Beach about small jellyfish stinging people when they got in the water. I also heard a few reports in Tampa Bay.  These jelly fish don’t just disappear, so be careful when you head out to the beaches over the next few weeks.  As the love bugs go into hiding, the gnats and June bugs have come out to play. The mosquitos will not be long, so it might be time to pull out the bug spray to put along with your SPF 30 sunscreen.

As I went out to the back yard today to take out my grass-hungry cat, I nearly stepped on a 3-foot dark black snake, and made a quick slam of the back door and grabbed the cat with a lightning fast snatch up that confused us both.  A few seconds later I went out to see where it went and to get rid of it.  He was a smart one, he tangled himself on the only broom in the back yard.  I went back inside to grab another broom from the garage and came back and the snake was gone. A now screaming cat was shortly after let out for a blade of grass or two and an uninterrupted sun bath. I later did some research on the snake to find out it was a black racer.  It was one of many that I will probably see this year.

The moral of this story is to be prepared for what ever lie outside, whether it is storming or calm on that trip to the backyard barbecue or to the beach business.  Stay safe and good night!