After the rain ends, look upThey say that Florida doesn’t have seasons, but that isn’t quite true. We have the rainy season, the dry season, hurricane season, and the tourist season. (We also have lovebug season, that’s another story.) Some of these do run together, but that is beside the point.
Parts of the rainy season and the tourist season seem to run hand in hand. The rainy season usually starts in the middle of May, and runs until about the middle of October. The main tourist season is in the middle of the summer because schools are closed and people take their vacations from work. That means if you plan to visit during the busiest time of the year, there’s a very good chance that you will get rained on. Don’t worry, all day rain is rare unless there’s a tropical storm. You might get it the first couple of weeks of the rainy reason, but then a pattern will usually settle in, and it’s not all that bad.
I tell people all the time to start checking the forecast a few days before their vacation so that they will know what to expect. That can sometimes strike terror, because during the rainy season the forecast will usually have a high chance of thunderstorms every single day. Chances are that the storms that we experience in Florida are not like the ones that you get at home. You’ll feel a change in the air, and the wind might pick up. When the storm hits it will move in quickly, and then it will pour. Sometimes you can actually see the rain line moving towards you. Don’t be surprised if you still see some blue sky, that’s how quickly these storms will move.
If you think that the near daily afternoon thunderstorms are going to ruin your vacation, don’t let them. Download a weather app with RADAR so that you can see when a storm is moving in. Enjoy a show, an indoor ride, or an early dinner while it rains. These storms usually move out almost as quickly as they arrived, and then they are gone. Often the rain will last only a few minutes, but rarely will they last longer than an hour.
When the storm is over, look up. Often there will be a rainbow in the sky. I’ve seen more rainbows since we moved to Florida than I did in my entire life before we lived here.
One more thing to keep in mind. All of that water needs to go somewhere, and the humidity level will skyrocket immediately after a storm. If someone in your party has respiratory problems, you might want to stay inside a little while longer.