| Waterspouts - Layton, FL - May 22nd, 2006 LOWER MATECUMBE - LAYTON - LONG KEY - MARATHON Martin Kucera & FloridaLightning.com (c) 2006 |
| On some days the things just come together and you know that you can expect certain things happen. It was the case of today where you could literally feel it in the air. High humidity, light winds and plenty of other small scale mechanics you could play with. My interest in this particular chase day started with a large thunderstorm complex near Dry Tortugas but those quickly died during the early afternoon as did some small storms along the cloud line just north of the Lower Keys. Later in the afternoon (about 4 pm) I noticed a rather small thunderstorm forming over the south central part of Florida mainland - in the area of one of my favorite overlooks in the Everglades N.P. This storm also died quickly but was showing considerably higher returns on the radar. Later the outflow from this storm began propagating in a south-west direction. This triggered showers and new updrafts along the way of the outflow boundary. At the same time a well developed cloud line was present along the north side of the Upper and Middle Keys. The updrafts struggled in the area of Islamorada so after the initial look in the sky I decided to head south where the towers looked much better. This decision paid off well. Only a couple minutes into my taking photographs a faint waterspout developed very close to one of the rain shafts that littered the horizon. |
| Florida Bay at 5 pm - there are waterspouts forming at this time already along the rainless part of a base of the storm. |
| A first waterspout that went unreported. It is shortly after 5pm. Unfortunately I did not have a cell phone on me to report it. |
| One would assume the spout was going to dissipate quite quickly but this one lasted for more than ten minutes trying to battle it out with the cool rain shaft. As was going to be the case for the rest of the afternoon a new waterspout developed to the south-west of the previous one. I drove south to the area of Layton, FL - there are not those annoying power lines in the view. The visibility was fine and we were about three hours away from sunset. What a great setup I thought. During the next hour or so I witnessed about six waterspouts. Surprisingly all of them on the north side of the islands. Upon checking the local storms reports from the NWS in Key West I realized pretty much all of the reports noted the waterspouts occurring on the south side of the islands. I suppose at the time I was observing these waterspouts the leading edge of the boundary was way past me to the south-west producing new vigorous updrafts somewhere in the area of Marathon. I remember once looking way past the horizon to the south-west and the cloud line was in fact stretching all the way across the horizon - as far as you could possible see. |
| Two waterspouts form at the same time just off shore. This was near Fiesta Key in the Upper Keys. Bridges are great vantage points in the Keys but you can not stop to photograph or shoot video, of course. |
| A closer look at one of the waterspouts as seen from Layton, FL. The spout development propagated slowly to south-west which would be to the left of the waterspout in the picture. |
| The overall view of Florida Bay at 6 pm as seen from Layton, FL. The rain kept overtaking the cloud line so I had to start moving south-west along the island chain again. There was no lightning with these showers until later. |
| Florida Keys Waterspouts. |
| Probably the most interesting moment of the afternoon. The waterspouts are trying to survive the rain-cooled air coming in from the rain shaft to the right of the picture. |
| I wish a had a boat. That would provide for some extra close photo opportunities. |
| When dissipating waterspouts are pretty much being pushed away from the rain shaft and take on some interesting shapes. Sometimes the parent cloud rains out and the waterspout goes on but inmost cases the cool air undercuts the waterspout thus ending it's fragile life cycle. |
| There are some pictures I left out that would show some more waterspouts across the horizon. Sometimes you just put the camera away and just enjoy the show. There were also many funnel clouds along the line trying to make it but it was getting dark and heating of the day was lost. These fishermen had a lot of fun - you could hear them all the way to the shore. I watched them hooking some big fish till dark. Don't know if they ever even looked up in the sky. The storm ahead intensified and later started gusting out. At this time - about 7 pm - there were still waterspouts forming and being reported further south in Marathon, FL. I just enjoyed watching the shelf roll by.... |
| Looking south-west at the gust front along the Long Key bridge (originally called Long Key Viaduct) . This bridge is one of the most neglected landmarks in the Keys since most of the people just go over it down to Key West never seeing the beauty of it. Picture of this bridge like the one above-right with a train steaming across was a signature photograph in Henry Flagler's efforts to promote and build the railroad between Miami and Key West. It was also a logo of his company that was building the railroad (FEC). He succeeded despite the hardship caused by clouds of mosquitoes, harsh tropical weather and other problems. On Labor Day weekend of 1935 this area was struck by the most intense hurricane to ever strike the United States with winds over 200 mph. Hundreds of Great War veterans lost their lives in the Upper Keys trying to build the Overseas Highway. Following this disaster the railroad was pretty much abandoned and the highway is being used today. |
| (c) 2006 - FloridaLightning.com |
