Summer in Southwest Florida
Winter and spring are beautiful in southwest Florida – clear and sunny and mild. Then one day you walk outside and slam into a wall of heat. Summer has arrived.
It’s not the humidity, it’s the UV index. It’s not just that its hot and humid, it’s that the sun feels like it’s just a few hundred feet up in the sky and is aiming specifically at you, following you around.
In Southwest Florida this is the norm all summer. The low at night is between 75 and 80.
This has been a new experience for us, but I now have a much greater understanding of the Mediterranean lifestyle. Anything that you want to do outside you should do before about 11 a.m. Walking at seven or eight is still nice. From about noon to four it’s mad dogs and Englishmen. Siestas aren’t lazy, they’re a survival mechanism!
Recently we experienced the ultimate Florida disaster: our air conditioning went out. Fortunately, companies down here are geared to rapid response. We were uncooled for just a day or two, but long enough to know how completely unbearable it would be without AC.
And yet there are a lot of people who work outdoors in the summer: gardeners, roofers, highway pavers, insulation installers (can you imagine?). If you know any, give them some sympathy, and plenty of water breaks!
Have a happy and safe Fourth everybody.