Fake water line

Here’s a case of a clearly defined water line …

Except that it isn’t.

What looks like an obvious water line ...
is just another swamp illusion.

What looks like a swampy shore is actually the result of a recent burn that was stopped dead in its tracks …

Probably from rain.


Where is the water line then?

Guaranteed it’s the cypress side on the left that holds the most water, only you can’t see it because the needles are full and the ground cover in the prairie is unsigned (and intact.)

Helicopter pilot at a rain gage in a knee-deep marsh

Swamp Lesson 481:

Never take a water measurement from three hundred feet in the air!

Summer storm over swamp

Run for cover!

Swamp's revenge

What is it about the swamp ...

That makes me feel like a hydrologist always trying to catch up?

The swamp contains thousands of  these cypress domes ...
Too many to count and all of them unnamed.

On the one hand, the swamp isn't going anywhere ...

Yet on the other I find myself constantly bogged down. Go figure? In part that's because the water cycle moves so fast. South Florida is the King of the Big Rain Day, whether it be an afternoon shower, a tropical storm or even a front. All it takes is one downpour to completely change the outlook. But when the rain fizzles the sun sizzles and takes away our water in incredible atmospheric efficiency.


Then factor in the swamp's size:

According to my last inventory (I do one every year,) there were too many cypress domes to count (see above photo.)  As for the mosquitoes, I can pinpoint that number with ease just closing my eyes and feeling the welts on every piece of exposed skin. And, oh yeah, I inhaled a couple too.

Example of grainy video

Then finally is my futile attempt to capture it:

My 1.3 Megapixel photos that I take using a Sony Mavica that I have to wait five seconds between shots and my grainy video that I film using a Flip which I might point out has been discontinued by its parent corporation. Both dinosaurs. I feel like a dinosaur, slogging among the cypress, wondering if the world hasn't passed me by.


"And what if it has?"

That's the swamp telling me it's okay.

Downstream in the swamp

Downstream on the Turner River
will lead you to the mangrove coast

Escaping downstream

Here's the case for getting off road,
and going with the flow ...

Into the unknown.

If only it was that easy!

The H.P. Williams Park

Can you see the monument?

More than just rocks!

Many might see this as just another pile of rocks.

But to aficionados of the Turner River it marks the keystone for resurrecting flows back into its natural channel.

H.P. William's Wayside, looking north
June 2011

Technically, it marks the southern terminus of Turner River Canal.

The last mile and a half of the canal were filled back in to wetland grade back in 1996, just across the road from H.P. Williams Wayside, with the hydrologic goals of holding wet season water in the swamp, preventing it from pulsing out to tide and -- last but not least -- rediverting water towards the river.

Here's an aerial view of the entire area.

HP William's Wayside is located at the intersection of Tamiami Trail (US41) and Turner River Road.  You can clearly see Turner River's headwater pools.  About nine miles down the river spills out into the Gulf of Mexico near the small isle hamlet called Chokoloskee which is connected to the mainland (i.e. Everglades City) by a causeway constructed in 1953.  Everyone relied on boats before it was built, and to a degree still do.  Turner River's headwater culverts are located between 1 and 2 miles north of the wayside.

It's easy to see how Turner River Road severed the river's headwater flow.

By the way:
Be careful on the rock pile!

There was a water moccasin under ever rock.

Watch your step!

And be careful on the road, too.

H.P. are initials of a worker who was killed in a road accident back when it was built.

South Florida Rain Chart

July has been our rainiest month since September of last year

Only hope now is a "perfect storm!"

We know that rainfall affects development:
A large part of water management is based on flood control …


But can vice versa too much development also affect the rain?

Southwest coast has been rainy:
Click on map to see a rain chart for your area

While we can’t point to an particular acre per se,

It is my understanding that urbanization in particularly on east coast and agricultural conversion of wetlands to dry ground has robbed Florida’s famed wet season clouds of one of their primary sources of fuel. Also factoring in is our warming climate which scientists have suggested will give us wetter winters but also shorten the duration of our wet season which, in sum, will result in a net loss.


Then enter canals and levees:

They drain water out to sea (fast!) and also constrain the foot print water can spread out on. That’s resulted in many sloughs and strands becoming disconnected from their upstream ‘slow-drip” sources, and turned coastal estuaries into sacrificial dumping grounds where the big rain weeks and months short circuit through before getting lost to sea. Restoration lies in finding ways to hold back the water from the coast (a technical term hydrologists call “inland storage”), and saving it so it can be soaked in and slow dripped south.

Levees and canals as seen near Forty Mile Bend, looking northeast

The end result is a warped sense of the weather.

We hope beyond hope for the perfect storm (i.e., monthly, seasonal, and yearly rainfall) to somehow save the day and replenish our watersheds to the precise thresholds we divine.


Meanwhile, Hurricane Season lurks, or as Floridians like to say:

“We could use the rain, just not the wind.”



Here's some recent newspaper articles on the topic:

Water Storage Problematic for South Florida
Andy Reid, Sun Sentinel

Despite inland water shortfall, stormwater rushes out to sea ...
Chris Stapleton, Palm Beach Post

Waiting game

Clouds have their work cut out to get gates back and flowing!

Uphill slog for Glades

Everyone talks about Lake O being so low,

But by historic standards it’s the downstream Glades that are drier.

The Glades deepest spot is notably low

It's not that they are dry.

Soggy and shallow is a better description.  Just ask the mosquitoes.  They love those stagnant pools.  (I have too many welts to count as proof.  By the way, they itch!)


If recent rains are an indication, they should filling up higher soon.

Regardless, it's been a slow start to the wet season. As illustrated on the upper chart, you can see quite clearly that our current year (blue) has fallen off the hydrograph! Keep in mind that’s based on a relatively short record, only 1993 to present, but still: How many people were around to see it lower? Okay, probably quite a few … only I wasn't one of them so for me it’s surprising to see. The calendar graph below give you a look at where our current condition compares to the 1971, 1974, 1981, 1989 and 1990 wet season droughts.

You have to go all the way back to 1990 to see a similarly shallow summer

Factoring in also is the depth of the spring drought.

Waters have risen a foot from their mid-June low-water mark, but they are still a foot below the twenty-year average for late July.


If this trend continues they may not even open up the gates!

(Not that the mosquitoes would mind ...)

Cloud meets structure

Cloud over the S-12A gate in the Everglades

Rarest variety of rainbow?

When it comes to the summer wet season in south Florida …

That means blue skies all morning and downpours in the afternoon, right?

Here's an early morning land-breeze fed cumulonimbus clouds.
I saw it during my commute ride into work over the Ten Thousand Islands

By afternoon downpours I mean the giant cumulonimbus cloud which at the hands of inland heating of the land’s surface, i.e., causing air to rise, which is in turn replaced (and fueled) by a stout sea breeze blowing in from the coast. But don’t forget, that same sea breeze reverses direction during the night to form its twin opposite, the land breeze, which blows towards the coast towards the tug of sea-warmed air rising over the offshore shallows of the gulf.


When the morning land breeze collides head on with the regional winds – POP! – coastal cumulonimbus clouds take form.

Miami is famous for its morning showers because of the orthogonal orientation of its coast with the prevailing path of the eastward blowing Trade Winds. But they aren’t confined just there. Each summer on occasion I see them line up like a morning parade along the Ten Thousand Islands Coast to the south on my ride into work.

Here's a rare sighting of a morning rainbow as seen from Ochopee

Thus, morning clouds can be quite common.

Except in this case because of the rainbow.


I usually only see those in the afternoon.

A rainbow

Tamiami Trail looking back east
after having just driven through the cloud

Ever outrun a cloud?

Slowly but surely I worked my way towards daylight,

Then when I turned around I saw this.

Remember: Drive safely on those wet roads!

One flat fish

Here's more info on the fish kill

The art of fooling tourists

Note to Tourism Board:

Now’s a perfect time to steer visitors into the swamp.

And you think the tourists are mad?
Check out the look on this fish's face!

Not figuratively, I mean literally:

The Big Cypress Swamp.


For one, the water is back. Ample summer showers have refilled the fabled fen-like flatlands with inches to feet of water, depending on where you stand. Of course visitors should be advised to stay on boardwalks or elevated walkways unless they are prepared to ruin a pair of shoes and socks.

These are offshore fish not frequently found on the beach

Two, an off-shore fish kill has swept up on Naples Beach. That makes for a fishy smell, turbid brown waters and lots of dead fish.

Not that the crabs mind.


As for the crabby tourists scrambling for Plan B?

The swamp and its angels await!

Crabs have a nose for fish kill parties

Note to Tourism Board:

Don’t mention that swamp angles is a euphemism for mosquitoes.

Home Sweet Florida

Great to be back home!

There's no place like home

Northerners like to “winter” in Florida,

But half a year later, Floridians like to “summer” up North.

Here's an interesting house in historic Limbourg.
Can you see the bird house on the wall?

Among the biggest benefits are cooler weather and less mosquitoes.

Equally important is the change in the scenery, a break from the grind, meeting new people and re-acquainting with old friends. Life is too short not to take vacations. And isn’t it the case that vacations so often seem so short?


What’s the metric of the perfect vacation length?

That would be enjoying your stay, but also a growing craving to get back.

Close up of bird house

It's in traveling we rediscover that there is no place like home!

"I brake for snails!"

Snails and slugs are a common sight after a Belgian rain

Night the Belgian mosquito won

What’s worse – the Florida mosquito or the Belgium housefly?

Never underestimate a Belgian housefly!

I naturally assumed the mosquito going in.

At the right places (or wrong ones, in this case) they are plentiful beyond belief in Florida, and yes, I’ve had my fair share of welts to show for it.


But if you’re alone with one in a room, there’s nothing easier to kill.

It buzzes in your ear, it settles down on your arm, then you slap it – “SPLAT!” – red on the spot.

Houseflies were flocking around this chestnut mare

Compare that the housefly.

They tend not to be so bothersome outside, but get one (or more) in a room alone with you – and worse – with food at the table, they find a way to nibble away at your sanity by way of zipping by one ear, then the other, then landing on you salad …

But never staying long enough in one place to slap.


And here’s the catch.

The common Belgian housefly is all but “uncatchable” with the naked hand.

The same can be said for these cows

The great equalizer – and whose invention is conceivably an unheralded turning point in the rise of modern society out of the Middle Ages, and possibly a direct precursor to the artistic glories of the Renaissance – is the fly swatter.

What I couldn’t come close to doing with my hand the fly swatter did every try.

“SWAT!”


So, each night I took to my trusty fly swatter.

One by one I polished them off – if it didn’t kill them outright, the swatter “stunned” them enough to spatula them up, pancake style, and shake them out the unscreened window – Until there were none left.

The most important thing is to clear them out before you go to sleep

Or so I thought:

On one particular night I found myself slipping in and out of a deep slumber to the faint and unmistakable sound. I slapped on my ear – quite hard – and apparently unsuccessfully, because the sound returned. Then I pulled the cover over my head:

I was too tired to get up and find it.



On that night the Belgian mosquito won.

Full speed ahead!

First class view for half the price

The train ride into Brussels was packed –
We rushed in to find a good seat.

Question: Why then is this car practically empty?

First class looks rather spacious 

Answer:

Because First Class has its privileges.


Among them include bigger and more comfortable seats, less crowds, the soothing rhythmic silence of iron wheels rolling over le chemin de fer …

Even the windows seemed bigger.

Compared to second class which was a snugger fit.

Second class was better for people watching ...

And cheaper of course.

But the view was the same.

Bottom line:

We all got to Brussels at the same time.

Rain and sun at sunset

Can you see the rain drops?

Green flash of Belgian sunset?

Where are sunsets are more scenic:

Florida or Belgium?

Belgian sunset, circa 9:45 pm

As senseless a debate it may seem – a sunset anywhere given the right array of clouds and light and from a proper position (say a hilltop or on the water facing west) is pretty hard to beat – if also ephemeral, other than perhaps the futile attempts of those silly enough to try as they might with cameras and lenses to capture what of them they can to then upload them for viewing onto a computer.

It’s never the same.


But my view on it is this:

Summer sunsets go to Belgium.

Summer sunsets in Belgium are slow as a slug

For one I’m there to see them (and from a pretty good hill I might add). Second is duration. Not that you have to pay by the minute – no that’s not it – but in terms of getting the most bang for your buck (or Euro as it may be), I’ve been sitting here for the better part of an hour (it’s 10:15 pm) watching the bending of light at the horizon unfold.

Finally by 10:40 pm it will be completely dark.


But not to worry – the sun is back up again at 4 am.

(That makes curtains essential if you want to sleep in.)

People travel from all parts of the globe to see a Naples sunset

Winter sunsets of course go to Florida …

Particularly if viewed from the waterfront looking west.


But don’t be late!

These are “early bird” specials.

You’ll want to have your chair set up by 5:30 pm sharp.

Everyone wins!

No comment on the quality of the prizes.

Everyone deserves a trophy!

Does everyone deserve a trophy?

I've overheard the generation or two older than me in a huff over every child getting a trophy in little league. They'll gladly tell you (vent is more like it) how such an abomination is an indicator (of one of the many actually) of what ails the modern world.

I always shake my head in disbelief when I hear it:

Aren't these the same people that forty years ago would have gone home from the summer fair completely empty handed if it wasn't for the game with floating ducks that you pick up with a number on the underside?

That's the great thing about the water cycle:

Anyone can play and everyone's a winner, even if the prize maybe forgetting for a moment about who got a trophy and why!

Direct from the sky

Sometimes a well-timed rain can save the day!

Clothes on a line

Letting the sun and wind do the work!

When barrels get tapped

Belgium has dry spells, too.

That's when gardens get watered by the barrel.

Last resort is the brook out back.

The case for evapotranspiration

Naples, Florida copies Naples, Italy in many ways.

There's the name of course, both are similarly situated on the southwest coasts of their peninsulas, both have volcanoes (okay, maybe not that one) and there is the Tuscan architecture.

How about iconic images of alley-spanning clotheslines?

Those you'll only find in Italy.

Medicinal waters of Spa

I can't explain why ...

But suddenly my shoulder (i.e., rotator cuff)
felt better after taking a swig.

As for the taste, I still like Florida's Zephyrhills better!

Belgian summer turns wintery

Ever hear a famous saying that doesn’t make sense ...

Only to finally figure it out years (even decades) later?

Summers in Spa, Belgium are "very warm" at most

For me, it’s the memorable line from Mark Twain: “The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco.” As an aficionado of American Literature in my teenage years was when I was first introduced to the saying, but had barely a clue what it meant.

Was he talking meteorologically, or metaphorically – or both?

Then in my twenties I visited my brother in Menlo Park, California.


We never made it to AT&T Park, thus I never saw Barry Bonds hit a home run – and for my money he’s the greatest baseball player who ever played – but we did pass through the city which I was shocked to find an unseasonable cool and damp, as if we were momentarily stranded in a cloud. I say momentarily because just like that we were in and out of it across the Golden Gate Bridge back in the warm California air.

Apparently there’s a fog that sits over the city all summer long.

Finally the saying made sense.

Spa stays cool all summer long
because of its higher altitude
and where its nestled in a deep valley

Fast forward twenty years later and as a Floridian visiting Belgium I find myself feeling much the same: “The coldest winters I ever spend as a Floridian are my summers in Belgium.”

Except last summer when Europe was in the grips of a major heat wave.

Belgian summers are winter like to a south Floridian

A common Belgian weather saying goes like this, or so I was told:

“The hardest choice you’ll face all day is deciding what to wear each morning, knowing in the back of your head you'll have to eventually change ...

Especially if you forget your umbrella!"

View from a fence

It's always a good day for a walk in Belgium,
or a bike ride as was the case here.

Drain to nowhere?

Belgium has summer thunderstorms, too.

In the afternoon they can be quite intense.

Ever wonder where your local storm drain ends up?

All that stormwater needs some place to go.

Down the drain and out of sight, right?

The outfall end is never a pretty sight!

"Road on the right ahead!"

For the cars approaching the same road is on the left

Rule of the right

Driving in Belgium is fun and deceptively easy ...

Emphasis on "deceptively."

"Hey, what does that sign mean?"

As pleasant and uncongested as the rolling roads may appear – Beware! – lurking around every turn (and always on the right hand side of the road) is a hidden danger that you must be fully prepared to stop.

The reason?
- La Loi du Droit

Maybe I should slow down ... but no reason to stop!

You see, in the Belgian countryside there are no stop signs ...

Not one. Instead they have these peculiar triangular signs with an black "x" in the middle which indicates an intersection is just up ahead, and at which the Rule of the Right prevails.

Can you believe that little road on the right has the right of way?

The “rule of the right” gives priority to the driver entering the intersection to your right. If the intersection is clear – no worries – speed right ahead through. If a car on the left arrives simultaneously at the intersection at the same time – also no worries (and trust me) – you have priority as the car on the right.

The catch is that you lose your right if you hesitate, in theory at least.  The complicating the math for me is working the clutch and the new roads and the windy routes, thus my brain and body are fully engaged.


As crazy as the Rule of the Right may at first appear:

It makes sense on roads that are, more times than not, relatively traffic free.

Okay, it all just got crazier in the village center!

Rules of course work best when everyone knows them!