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The striking aspects of nature this week have been a paucity of butterflies and the return of adult dragonflies to local ponds.  Sunsets have continued to be unusually beautiful with some striking cloud formations.  I even convinced myself that I […]

    The conditions of mangroves along our coasts are of interest after a series of hurricanes in recent years and a killing frost in early February. Mangroves consisting of four species (red, black, white and buttonwood) are basically tropical […]

  As Spring approaches I have been somewhat disappointed with the relatively few flowers that are blooming. This is likely due to the very dry weather (a 7 year drought) plus we are approaching the driest month of the year […]

      As winter continues just past middle February we encountered a period of freezing weather around Feb. 3.  This photo well illustrates the devastating effects of the transient cold on mangroves and a Pond Apple in a tidal […]

One of the interesting features of the ecology of Lemon Bay in winter is that the water clarity improves a lot. This might seem counter-intuitive for waters that are highly polluted with nutrients of human origin. But the cooler temperatures […]

  Winter in Florida is not without some periods of cold weather. Indeed on almost a weekly basis there will be a cold front sweeping down from the north often with dense dark clouds as seen here from my dock […]

      Sunrises and sunsets are exciting and mysterious since they are so ephemeral and unpredictable. A partly cloudy sky can result in better color but there seems little systematic way to predict in advance how beautiful one will […]

  The heck with snow- the place to be in SW FL during the Christmas/New Year holidays is the BEACH! Since I live just across the street from the beach this can lead to considerable traffic jams and a less […]

      As our drought continues in SW FL, freshwater ponds are continuing to decrease in volume while tidal areas remain full. This is clear with an examination of minimally tidal Lemon Lake in Amberjack Preserve where the water […]

As I am writing this on Dec. 6, 2025, a very unusual condition has occurred. During the 2025 hurricane season no storms made landfall on the US mainland, something that has not happened since 2015. .Yet we continue to recover […]

  Humans tend to live as if time was of no concern and assume that conditions around them will stay rather constant. Living on a barrier island (or a volcano or a seismic fault) will teach you otherwise since the […]

Middle November seems to be a “halfway house” for weather.  One day it will be cool in the morning and moderate in the afternoon then it will be very hot and humid for a day.  So it can be a […]

By the end of October air temperatures start to drop in a noticeable fashion and I turn off my air conditioner. You no longer have to limit your outdoor activities to the morning to escape the afternoon heat. Yet the […]

As I write this in the last week of September there is certainly a decline in butterflies, the appearance of some new flowers and loss of others, and leaves are falling in some numbers, especially tulip poplars. There is no […]

          As the early Fall season continues you might think there would be a significant abatement of life as temperatures cool and leaves begin to fall. Such is not yet the case in early September as […]

In late August, natural events make it clear that Summer is coming to an end.  Not only are daily high temperatures diminishing significantly but we are seeing the appearance of typical ecological occurrences that signify the end of hot weather.  […]

  So far this summer has been quite wet and warm but we have entered a somewhat cooler although still wet period. It has been a pleasure to be able to go outside with high temperatures only near 80 F. […]

            Although the weather had been unsettled previously in July with much rainfall and a huge storm, this did not prepare me for the onset of true summer weather as August approaches . The oppressively […]

There is an old saying, “you can run but you cannot hide!”   I had just returned July 5 from a short trip to FL to continue to clean up after the devastating hurricane Milton which had a huge storm surge […]