The Unknown Florida

The weather in the Deep-South is noteworthy. Extremely hot and humid summers; actually late spring, summer and early fall combined to add up to six month with maximum temperatures at least in the 90s most of the time and minima in the 70s. Over the last couple of years it became so hot that the FSU Morcom pool, where we have been swimming year-round for 15 years, couldn’t control the water temperature anymore. The water is now often too hot to swim laps. At one point a swimming coach, after doing a couple of laps himself, had a heat stroke and spent several days in the hospital. And let us not talk about running outdoors; and climate change, in particular in Florida.

Additionally, the South is confronted with hurricanes and tornadoes. Since 2016 we have been through numerous hurricanes; too many to remember all their names. The bookends are Hermine (2016), our first hurricane, and Helene (2024). To summarize the experience: Hurricanes ain’t much fun. However, until May 10th, 2024 we haven’t been through a tornado outbreak. Early that morning a strong squall line with thunderstorms moved through the region that resulted in three EF2 tornadoes in the center of Tallahassee. Railroad Square, close to downtown, and the Indian Head neighborhood got hit hard, with many building destroyed by the direct wind impact and falling trees. Ironically, I took some photos in a building at Railroad Square of a band practicing there a week before it got destroyed. They had their rehearsal space in one of the old warehouses. That evening, May 2nd, we came by on our bicycles, heard some music, walked in and chatted with the band. Among others, I took a photo of the guitarist with his Telecaster.

The morning after the tornado outbreak we didn’t have power at home and, therefore, drove through town to survey the damage. As regulars at Railroad Square, we drove there first. Most of the warehouses were severely damaged. In particular, the building that included the rehearsal space we visited a week before was destroyed beyond repair and torn down a couple of months later. By chance, we ran into the band members recovering their belongings, including an American flag, from the wrecked building (left behind the remains of a tree) and I took a photo.