The South Florida Watershed Journal

• Warm Thankgiving memories

  Warm memories of Thanksgivings past, buttressed by simmering stoves and roasting ovens on the inside, are counter balanced by equal "outside" servings of chills to the cheek and toes that just won’t seem to get warm.
  
  Not that Baltimore, Maryland was the icy arctic (or [...]
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  Posted: November 25, 2009, 10:17pm EST
  

• Barron River CanalStop ...

  Barron River CanalStop Gate 6a [...]
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  Posted: November 25, 2009, 2:00pm EST
  

• 11 months of rain

  We still have a month to go on the calendar
  before we can call it a year,
  
  But here in Florida, December (3 inch avg) is a dry month.
  
  
  That has me thinking:
  
  How has 2009 (so far) stacked up to previous rain years?
  
  [...]
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  Posted: November 24, 2009, 10:16pm EST
  

• wetting front creeps ...

  wetting front creeps into tall cypress [...]
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  Posted: November 24, 2009, 2:30pm EST
  

• Mystery of the "moving" baseline

  How can the deepest spot in the Everglades be at a record low,
  
  But historically speaking – if you go back decades – also be pretty deep?
  
  Call it the mystery of the Moving Hydrologic Baseline.
  
  
  As their name would suggest, the [...]
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  Posted: November 23, 2009, 10:15pm EST
  

• It's been ahigh ...

  It's been ahigh and dryfall so farfor south Florida [...]
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  Posted: November 23, 2009, 2:00pm EST
  

• "Plan B" when monsoons fail

  Florida doesn’t have monsoons,
  
  although the summer showers are often mistaken as such.
  
  
  What makes them different?
  
  Florida’s summer convective showers are fed by “low atmosphere” lows (caused by daytime heating), stoked by upper atmosphere instability and super charged by colliding landward-flowing [...]
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  Posted: November 22, 2009, 10:36pm EST
  

• Water ...

  Enclosure: [download]

  
  
  Water fountains are
  water cycles in miniature:
  inflow equals outflow,
  minus evaporation. [...]
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  Posted: November 22, 2009, 2:00pm EST
  

• Fall "state of mind"

  What is it about fall --
  
  Whether up on the "continent" ...
  
  Or down here on the south Florida "peninsula" --
  
  That makes it such a nostalgic season? [...]
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  Posted: November 21, 2009, 10:29pm EST
  

• Keep clear!

  
  Keep clear!
  Water gushing through a spillway
  is beautiful, but dangerous [...]
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  Posted: November 21, 2009, 3:00pm EST
  

• Pioneer trail

  Enclosure: [download]

  Trips down Loop Road are few and far between,
  
  Flights above are even rarer.
  
  Here’s a view of that road and its main hamlet -- Pinecrest -- from the sky.
  
  
  
  The back story on the 8-mile eastern spur of this lime rock road is that [...]
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  Posted: November 20, 2009, 10:30pm EST
  

• [nt]

  Enclosure: [download]

  
  
  Not wading birds,
  but rather crows on a wire ...
  "waiting." [...]
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  Posted: November 20, 2009, 2:00pm EST
  

• Proposed name change

  Florida is full of water bodies with “catchy” names –
  
  Ichetucknee, Caloosahatchee, Withlacoochee, Apalachicola, Okeechobee, Loxahatchee, Suwannee … the list goes on.
  
  Does the same apply to Florida’s roadways?
  
  
  Tamiami Trail comes to mind.
  
  Promoters dubbed it so, with its lyrical [...]
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  Posted: November 19, 2009, 10:30pm EST
  

• winter water barrels

  winter water barrels
  also known as our aquifers
  are full ... but falling [...]
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  Posted: November 19, 2009, 2:00pm EST
  

• Sophomore slump

  The first batch of cold air in late October felt good,
  
  But it also made us greedy:
  
  When would the second arrive?
  
  
  We had to wait awhile – call it a sophomore slump – but finally it came this weekend.
  
  [...]
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  Posted: November 18, 2009, 10:25pm EST
  

• dry ...

  dry periphyton [...]
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  Posted: November 18, 2009, 2:30pm EST
  

• Conspicuously absent

  Where are we?
  
  Meteorologically, it’s the end of a long, hot, summer wet season,
  
  Also known as the beginning of our winter dry season;
  
  Or in other words – fall.
  
  
  First a review of our wet season.
  
  The core wet [...]
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  Posted: November 17, 2009, 9:55pm EST
  

• [nt]

  Enclosure: [download]

  
  
  Watch where
  you're walking!' [...]
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  Posted: November 17, 2009, 2:00pm EST
  

• Seasonal "flip flop"

  
  
  Winter in south Florida is hot –
  
  Snow birders visiting from up north would even describe it as “summer-like.”
  
  
  
  That’s not surprising considering the sorry state of summer this year on the continent:
  
  It was cool. (see article)
  [...]
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  Posted: November 16, 2009, 10:25pm EST
  

• cypress needles are ...

  cypress needles are falling [...]
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  Posted: November 16, 2009, 2:00pm EST
  

• Everglades bests St. Johns

  Water, like politics, can be quite polarizing.
  
  That’s the bad news.
  
  
  
  
  
  The good news is that this journal is aligned with no political party (I’m a water centrist):
  
  It strives to find “common water” where it exists, and tell [...]
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  Posted: November 15, 2009, 10:25pm EST
  

• [nt]

  Enclosure: [download]

  
  
  How often do gators eat?
  About once per week [...]
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  Posted: November 15, 2009, 2:00pm EST
  

• Second to none

  I turned forty a few weeks back.
  
  Not that’s forty’s old – it’s not, nor is monumental – I feel and look the same as yesterday:
  
  But it is reflective.
  
  
  I found myself thinking back to, if not “simpler” times, certainly ones [...]
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  Posted: November 14, 2009, 10:15pm EST
  

• Dangerous ...

  Enclosure: [download]

  
  
  Dangerous surf [...]
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  Posted: November 14, 2009, 2:00pm EST
  

• Full moon bay

  The winter tides are up, but not quite “over”
  (... the top of the weir that is):
  
  Freshwater is still flowing and keeping it “at bay”
  (... or rather, "in the bay");
  
  At least that was the case when I stopped at the Faka Union Weir during a [...]
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  Posted: November 13, 2009, 10:34pm EST
  

• weekend ...

  weekend arrives [...]
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  Posted: November 13, 2009, 2:00pm EST
  

• Economics of lawn watering

  Is Florida is running out of water?
  
  In some corners – yes, the aquifers are fully tapped … and how could they not be at a per capita demand of 179 gallons per day per person. (see article)
  
  Floridians aren’t that thirsty, but their lawns are!
  [...]
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  Posted: November 12, 2009, 10:34pm EST
  

• welcome to the ...

  welcome to the swamp [...]
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  Posted: November 12, 2009, 2:00pm EST
  

• Inner lumper

  Are Florida rains "spatially" homogenous?
  
  Yes and no.
  
  
  Summer thunder showers are ubiquitous wherever you go. The four “core” summer months (June, July, August, and September) account for half of Florida’s annual 54 inch total.
  
  The winter is a different story:
  
  [...]
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  Posted: November 11, 2009, 10:30pm EST
  

• view ...

  
  view from castle [...]
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  Posted: November 11, 2009, 2:00pm EST
  

• "Furniture-burning" freeze

  Enclosure: [download]

  Yes, Belgium is cold:
  
  I’ve already noted that “the coldest winter I’ve ever spent (since I’ve moved to south Florida) was a summer in Belgium.”
  
  
  Not that I minded.
  
  Snowbirds flock to Florida for the winter, but come summer, full time residents [...]
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  Posted: November 10, 2009, 10:20pm EST
  

• Weir ...

  Enclosure: [download]

  
  
  Weir No. 1 video [...]
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  Posted: November 10, 2009, 2:00pm EST
  

• Multi-gear cycle

  How can we be at a record low …
  
  But still be pretty high?
  
  
  Blame it on an early end to the wet season (i.e., a stormless October) and a rainless early start to the dry season (November – mid May).
  
  The [...]
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  Posted: November 09, 2009, 10:30pm EST
  

• Weir No. ...

  Weir No. 1 [...]
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  Posted: November 09, 2009, 2:00pm EST
  

• First weir

  Skies have been rainless for a month,
  
  
  But the waters were still flowing ...
  
  
  as of late October when I visited this structure.
  
  
  This is Weir #1:
  
  The final structure on [...]
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  Posted: November 08, 2009, 10:30pm EST
  

• local ...

  local grown [...]
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  Posted: November 08, 2009, 2:00pm EST
  

• Very ripe on the vine

  Florida is the land of oranges,
  
  But you won’t find any in the stores now … at least not the natives.
  
  
  That will be changing in the upcoming weeks now that weather has cooled.
  
  In the meanwhile, you may have noticed the [...]
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  Posted: November 07, 2009, 10:30pm EST
  

• Seen but ...

  Enclosure: [download]

  
  Seen but not heard:
  heat lightning [...]
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  Posted: November 07, 2009, 2:00pm EST
  

• Back to the future

  Enclosure: [download]

  A Jetport almost destroyed the Big Cypress Swamp, but ended up saving it instead.
  
  Before the preserve was a preserve it was just a remote patch of swampland that developers subdivided and people bought (from around the world) in hope that it lay in the "path of progress."
  
  [...]
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  Posted: November 06, 2009, 10:00pm EST
  

• [nt]

  Enclosure: [download]

  
  
  Drive home safely:It's dark now early!' [...]
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  Posted: November 06, 2009, 2:00pm EST
  

• "Magnificent" six

  It’s official:
  
  This year’s wet season is history.
  
  It started fast with record May rains,
  and ended early with a rainless October.
  
  In total, we ended with 40 inches,
  within those 6 months.
  
  That’s chimes in right around average,
  
  [...]
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  Posted: November 05, 2009, 10:36pm EST
  

• [nt]

  S12A [...]
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  Posted: November 05, 2009, 2:00pm EST
  

• Engineered fall

  The dry season is here ... finally!
  
  How do I know?
  
  
  Some look to the skies for the absence of clouds. Others go by the feel of cooler (or less warm) temperatures. Still others look for the signs of dry ground.
  
  [...]
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  Posted: November 04, 2009, 10:30pm EST
  

• continent versus ...

  continent versus peninsula [...]
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  Posted: November 04, 2009, 2:00pm EST
  

• Still waiting

  Atlanta has a national reputation for being quite hot,
  
  Thus its nickname – “Hot” Lanta.
  
  But by south peninsula standards it becomes quite cool in non-summer months.
  
  
  The metric I look at is the 60 degree line.
  
  Here in Florida we [...]
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  Posted: November 03, 2009, 10:30pm EST
  

• November ...

  Enclosure: [download]

  
  
  November is the final "official" month of hurricane season [...]
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  Posted: November 03, 2009, 2:00pm EST
  

• Sentinel cypress

  In the heart of New England, just off the center of its innermost rotary, is a giant oak that stands at the spot where the original bargain was brokered to begin what was to become – 4 centuries later – the quaint town of Concord, Massachusetts.
  
  It’s not the [...]
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  Posted: November 02, 2009, 10:20pm EST
  

• ...

  Enclosure: [download]

  
  
  
  It's "lights out" for the summer weather machine,
  November is here!' [...]
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  Posted: November 02, 2009, 2:00pm EST
  

• "Same spot" a half year later

  End of dry season, May 2009
  
  End of wet season, October 2009
  
  Photo location is on south side of Tamiami Trail a few miles west of Carnestown.
  [...]
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  Posted: November 01, 2009, 11:00pm EST
  

• "all ...

  Enclosure: [download]

  
  
  "all you can drink for a euro"
  earlier this summer in Spa, Belgium [...]
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  Posted: November 01, 2009, 2:00pm EST