Thursday April 7th 2022

I woke this morning to a bright white sky. The sun was blocked by a layer of clouds, but they were thin enough that a lot of light came through. The other prime element of the days weather was the humidity. The moisture in the air needed to be cut just to walk through it. The weather was the main influence on the overall day.

The animal life in the park was hiding from the weather. All of the alligators were in the water. A few were swimming, but most of the visible gators only had their eyes and snout above the surface. The bird life was not out in the open area. The trees and tall grass provided a little more shelter from the strong wind than the open river bank. The only animal life I saw on the river bank was a single turtle that had used its limited energy to climb onto a log.

Midway through the afternoon the cold front arrived. I was driving in downtown Sarasota at the time. Conditions were not ideal. The rain fell sideways from the wind, visibility was poor and traffic was heavy. The storm front lasted for a little over two hours. On the other side of the front, the temperature was ten to fifteen degrees lower, the wind let up and the humidity was gone.

Back at the campground this evening there were plenty of big puddles and a few downed clumps of leaves. Overall it was much more comfortable weather. The next few days are forecast to be in the seventies with plenty of sunshine and lower humidity.