Each winter when we lived in Maine, we’d be inundated with print advertisements and TV commercials about sunny Florida. In the middle of a blizzard in February, while we sat in the living room bundled up in sweats and layered socks, the TV screen would show blue skies and bright, yellow sunshine beaming down on tanned, almost-naked people romping in the Florida sand and surf. We were mesmerized and envious and we couldn’t move down here fast enough.
Well, my friends, let me tell you how it REALLY is in Florida this time of year. Is it warm? Well, occasionally, but that seems to be a fluke in February. One day early last week, it was 82 and breezy so I took a mid-afternoon break, put on a sundress, and walked outside to soak up some vitamin D.
Forty-eight hours later, we were supposed to go sailing with a good friend of ours. But, by that time, it was 50 degrees with gale force winds and lashing rain. If all of that wasn’t enough to turn our stomachs (literally – thank goodness for Dramamine!), there was a small craft warning. So, the sailing trip was sadly abandoned and we visited a local museum instead.
We’d planned to take the make-up trip at the end of this week but now temperatures in the 30’s are expected!
The brochures and commercials we saw in Maine were clearly false advertising. But, as I am typing this, I’m looking outside at the sun and the water and I’m thanking our lucky stars that there’s no snow within a few hundred miles. However, they’re predicting some in the Florida panhandle on Friday…
THIS WEEK’S MASONISM
“If North Korea gets their weapons from China, do they break after just a few minutes?”
Angela Hoy lives on a mountain in North Georgia. She is the publisher of WritersWeekly.com, the President and CEO of BookLocker.com and AbuzzPress, and the author of 24 books.
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Florida always get a bit cooler in January and February. We need it to get ride of the bugs. And snow? Ok, we saw some flurries in Jacksonville, but it didn’t stick. Even if it gets to 25 at night, during the day, it’ll reach 55-60, and with the sun shining, it’s nice. Definitely better than 3 feet of snow and a 12 degree high. Besides, summers just around the corner.
I have spent most of my adult life in the Northeast, currently in rather snowy Connecticut. I grew up in the Sunshine State – specifically, Daytona Beach. Relatives from the north were often surprised at how chilly the east coast of Florida could be during the winter. To be sure, we had plenty of snowbirds and the weather could be counted on to be quite pleasant by Spring Break (“spring” in Connecticut is nonexistent). And, in general the area does seem a tad warmer than it was when I grew up – not a lot of killing frosts, scorching 100-degree spells in the summer that last for weeks, and freeze-sensitive, 150-foot tall Norfolk pines in everybody’s yard.
Welcome to reality! After many trips for business over fourteen years or so, I became convinced that the Sunshine State ” moniker was sold by the same snake oil salesmen that convinced folks “Greenland” was appropriate.