| Welcome and thank you for visiting FloridaLightning.com and also WaterspoutVideo.com ( in near future ). I was born in Czech Republic and first traveled to the United States in 1997. I was 18 years old. After visiting just about every US state with the exception of Alaska I came to beautiful Florida Keys in 2000 and stayed here ever since. I have lived in Key Largo, Tavernier and Islamorada. First you like the Keys, then sometimes you hate them. They are not like the mainland when it comes to every day living. You truly live in the islands by all means. Shopping malls, cinemas, golf courses and other things of that nature are not readily available in the Keys on daily basis although there are some. We also have just one major road - the Overseas Highway (US 1) that starts in Key West at MM 0 (mile marker) and goes on till about MM 126 where it connects to the mainland Florida. Florida Keys are really about relaxing, enjoying the tropical breezes and most of all, about slowing down... There is plenty to do in the Keys if have the right mindset. You can choose from fishing, diving or just snorkeling on some of the best reefs around, in fact, this is the only living coral reef in north America. You can also drink and party until you hit the ground. There is plenty of that around here, Key West is especially good for this. If you stay long enough and keep on living relaxing life I can almost promise you are going to be captivated by the unique beauty and atmosphere of the Florida Keys forever. Florida Keys are incredibly rich in natural history. Shipwrecks, Indian wars, Spanish treasure fleets... Florida Bay and Everglades National Park in such a close proximity provide endless opportunities for traveling, hiking, kayaking, photography or just leisure time year round. The beauty, tranquility and rich history of Lower Keys, Key West and Dry Tortugas N.P. could use a chapter of their own... Wet season ( May through September ) brings hurricanes, tropical storms, intense summer thunderstorms often with waterspouts, lightning and the most incredible colors, water views and sunsets you can imagine. A true heaven for someone with a passion for unusual weather phenomena. During rainy season it gets quite humid but it is not as bad since we always seem to get a bit of breeze coming off the waters surrounding Florida Keys and that makes it actually quite comfortable. Now if you just came here from up north, it will feel very humid as you might not be used to such high levels of humidity. During dry season the Keys are a true paradise for people who like fishing, diving, sailing, snorkeling, boating or just hanging around water. During this time weather is "perfect" with blue sky, dry air, no mosquitoes and plenty of sunshine. I fit perfectly into this wild and unpredictable environment. You can travel anywhere in the world from here and then come home back to your island paradise and not be worried whether you need a winter jacket or snow shoes to make your trip back home from the airport. I have been traveling all across the U.S. in search of thunderstorms for nearly a decade. Lightning has been my passion since childhood... I used to be terrified by lightning beyond belief... sometime during my teenage years this incredible fear turned into a serious passion and eventually led to this website you are visiting today. Living in the Keys also led to another passion, perhaps much more serious than lightning. For Florida Keys are known as the "Waterspout Capital of the World"... I have become absolutely obsessed with forecasting and chasing waterspouts on land, by air or boat... and have been doing just that on an unsurpassed level for nearly a decade. And it is only getting more serious of an affair as time goes by. Please check back often as my work will most likely concentrate more and more on waterspout chasing and research. My passion with unusual weather and travel is focused on one point only. To find the calmness, peace and the most incredible beauty the nature has to offer by means of severe and unusual weather events. Even a half a mile wide tornado over Texas prairie can have incredible calmness and peace to it. Thunderstorms provide amazing colors and beauty of the sky. It is my everyday challenge and pleasure to go out there and trying to find something more spectacular than the day before.... Starting this summer I'd like to kick things up a notch. I will go anywhere in the world to find what I am looking for. And then I am going to share it on these pages with you. I am constantly working on updates with a lot of writing and short stories from my various encounters and hope you will be able to follow, relax and enjoy it with me... All my best, Martin Kucera |
| MARTIN KUCERA |
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