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Traveling to Florida annually, this weather phenomenon has fascinated me since a young age. Central Florida is a thunderstorm lover's paradise during summer because of its ability to produce localized fronts on a daily basis. And this process is driven by afternoon breezes from the ocean and the resulting temperature differential over heated land. Typically, storms tend to fire a little way inland and gradually spread towards the coast. So if you're at or near the coast like Daytona Beach where I go it's quite a unique experience. All afternoon it's been bright and sunny with light cumulus clouds when seemingly out of nowhere it begins to sound like bombs are going off in the distance. You look around and realize that towards the west the sky now has a shimmering bluish gray tint that looks stunning against the sunlight and the still clear blue sky over the ocean.
This scenario is prevalent in Florida because breezes from both the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico form a collision boundary when they meet over land. Thunderstorm activity is often centered on one side of the state or the other, depending on which breeze is stronger on a given day. You can see in this radar animation how the opposing inflows race in and it's like dynamite for convection:
I've been wondering, are sea breeze-forced thunderstorms unique to peninsulas? Does the sea breeze also play a role in stormy places that only border one body of water, like South Carolina or the northern Gulf Coast? Or does it require two breezes interacting?
Somewhere like Auckland, which is an isthmus on a peninsula, will often get converging sea breezes from the east and west coasts., leading to sporadic heavy showers. As the water temperature of the Hauraki Gulf (east) is quite a bit warmer, than the west coast, it sometimes leads to localized thunderstorms, which I've experienced once.
Had a thunderstorm roll in off the sea, about two weeks ago.-hail and a heavy downpour.
There was a sea breeze blowing all day, leading to extensive cumulus columns, but the secret ingredient, was a cold change pushing warm air ahead of it.
Sounds like an oxymoron. Seabreezes kill Thunderstorms.. I experience that every year here. When storms form over the water or on land its not from a Sea Breeze here.
Breezes from the Ocean cut into a storm and kill the lift needed to get them to form and blossom
i could talk about thunderstorms all day. i live in one of the best locations for thunderstorms. about 15 miles inland. areas to the east or west don't get hit with as many. you can actually see 12-17 miles inland is a little more lush with vegetation because we probably get 5+ more inches of rain annually than areas 20+ miles inland or within 10 miles of the coast. 15 miles inland is the common convergence of the sea breeze where storms frequently form. from June to September my location averages 1 thunderstorm every other day, about ~60 for a good season. i remember this last season we had almost a month of consecutive storm days. it didn't rain at my exact location every single day, but you could always count on hearing at least a few rumbles of thunder in the distance every day. Florida summers are ridiculously hot, my average high in July is 92.9°F with 80% humidity. that is powerful heat with humidity. it is this power and energy that drives some of the most amazing storms on the continent. i'm thinking about buying a good quality camera to do a time lapse of thunderstorm formations.
Last edited by Sir Goosenseresworthie; 12-29-2015 at 02:07 PM..
Sounds like an oxymoron. Seabreezes kill Thunderstorms.. I experience that every year here. When storms form over the water or on land its not from a Sea Breeze here.
Breezes from the Ocean cut into a storm and kill the lift needed to get them to form and blossom
Funny, I've always associated sea breeze with big storms. How can the driving force in Florida also be what kills them in Connecticut?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sir Goosenseresworthie
i could talk about thunderstorms all day. i live in one of the best locations for thunderstorms. about 15 miles inland. areas to the east or west don't get hit with as many. you can actually see 12-17 miles inland is a little more lush with vegetation because we probably get 5+ more inches of rain annually than areas 20+ miles inland or within 10 miles of the coast. 15 miles inland is the common convergence of the sea breeze where storms frequently form. from June to September my location averages 1 thunderstorm every other day, about ~60 for a good season. i remember this last season we had almost a month of consecutive storm days. it didn't rain at my exact location every single day, but you could always count on hearing at least a few rumbles of thunder in the distance every day. Florida summers are ridiculously hot, my average high in July is 92.9°F with 80% humidity. that is powerful heat with humidity. it is this power and energy that drives some of the most amazing storms on the continent. i'm thinking about buying a good quality camera to do a time lapse of thunderstorm formations.
Awesome. Where did you get that average high? No official station in your area averages 93F, not even the heat island of Jacksonville NAS. Generally speaking, the Florida peninsula tends to have slightly cooler highs than other southern states during summer (but with a more powerful sun angle).
Funny, I've always associated sea breeze with big storms. How can the driving force in Florida also be what kills them in Connecticut?
Awesome. Where did you get that average high? No official station in your area averages 93F, not even the heat island of Jacksonville NAS. Generally speaking, the Florida peninsula tends to have slightly cooler highs than other southern states during summer (but with a more powerful sun angle).
idk where i got 92.9°F from to be honest, was in my memory bank for some reason. Jacksonville wiki page shows 92.0 and that is the airport 10 miles north of the city.
and looking on NOAA it holds 92 from July 6th to August 6th with a curve upward in between which tells me some kind of decimal point between 92.0 and 93.0. i'm willing to bet the average for July is probably around the ballpark of 92.2
i take back the .9 but being that i'm not on the river, about just as far from the river as i am from the atlantic coast, i might be higher than that for July but that is speculation so lets say around 92.2 as well.
Last edited by Sir Goosenseresworthie; 12-29-2015 at 02:59 PM..
Funny, I've always associated sea breeze with big storms. How can the driving force in Florida also be what kills them in Connecticut.
Guessing the cooler waters. Air becomes too stable and winds cut into a storm like a knife. Storms always weaken when we get that seabreeze flow but Ive seen storms miss me just miles to my north and keep blossoming. Danbury gets more storms then me.
Quick posts I found from NWS NY from June 14, 2013
Quote:
- 5pm update: Any showers or thunderstorms will stay away from New York City and coastal areas this evening as the air there is too stable
- Right after I typed this up, a small shower developed over New Jersey and drifted over Manhattan! Will be brief, just enough to wet the roads, just goes to show how localized convection can be!
- A couple of pesky showers with brief downpours are moving over parts of extreme southwestern Connecticut and western Long Island; brief downpours before they weaken in about 20 minutes.
- That cell is just now crossing the sea breeze front, the boundary between warmer air inland and cooler/more stable air near the coast, so it will continue to weaken as it presses south.
- Kevin Burbulak Looks like you were just far enough inland to avoid the stabilizing effect of the cooler ocean! Good call putting down that fertilizer early. Enjoy your evening, all!
Location: Segovia, central Spain, 1230 m asl, Csb Mediterranean with strong continental influence, 40º43 N
3,094 posts, read 3,573,159 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Sir Goosenseresworthie
i could talk about thunderstorms all day. i live in one of the best locations for thunderstorms. about 15 miles inland. areas to the east or west don't get hit with as many. you can actually see 12-17 miles inland is a little more lush with vegetation because we probably get 5+ more inches of rain annually than areas 20+ miles inland or within 10 miles of the coast. 15 miles inland is the common convergence of the sea breeze where storms frequently form. from June to September my location averages 1 thunderstorm every other day, about ~60 for a good season. i remember this last season we had almost a month of consecutive storm days. it didn't rain at my exact location every single day, but you could always count on hearing at least a few rumbles of thunder in the distance every day. Florida summers are ridiculously hot, my average high in July is 92.9°F with 80% humidity. that is powerful heat with humidity. it is this power and energy that drives some of the most amazing storms on the continent. i'm thinking about buying a good quality camera to do a time lapse of thunderstorm formations.
What about thunderstorms during winter months over there?
Somewhere like Auckland, which is an isthmus on a peninsula, will often get converging sea breezes from the east and west coasts., leading to sporadic heavy showers. As the water temperature of the Hauraki Gulf (east) is quite a bit warmer, than the west coast, it sometimes leads to localized thunderstorms, which I've experienced once.
Had a thunderstorm roll in off the sea, about two weeks ago.-hail and a heavy downpour.
There was a sea breeze blowing all day, leading to extensive cumulus columns, but the secret ingredient, was a cold change pushing warm air ahead of it.
Here is a typical sea breeze front advancing on the house just now. Was over the house within 10 minutes. Very rare for thunder, but often heavy showers and strong wind -sometimes very strong.
This one looks like the type that just produces sprinkles of large raindrops, that don't even register as a trace
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