Heat & humidity will be making a return to the First Coast in the coming days. Temperatures will reach the mid to upper 80s Wed. & near or a little above 90 degrees Thu. through the weekend. The sea breeze will become somewhat active Thu. through Sun. with isolated to widely scattered afternoon storms -- generally inland from the beaches. We might also get some help from outflow boundaries generated by thunderstorms across Alabama, Georgia & the Carolinas. But, overall, it looks hot & humid with only localized rainfall for several days in a row.
The Sun. tornado that tore through Parkersburg, Iowa & nearby areas has officially been rated as an EF-5; the first F-5 tornado in Iowa since the small community of Jordan was literally wiped off the face of the earth in June, 1976 [this tornado was anticyclonic at times]. (I can distinctly remember that day & storm...taking a walk with my mom & seeing huge mammatus clouds overhead as the massive tornadic storm moved some 80-90 miles west of us.) Click here for a link to the Des Moines N.W.S. with a very detailed summary of Sunday's tornadic storm including impressive radar images. 6 were killed by the tornado & at least 4 of those were in basements. Jamie Meester lives in Jacksonville but grew up in Parkersburg. The tornado destroyed her parent's home. Jamie's sister sent the photos below.......
#1: Parent's home (no roof)
#2: High School gymnasium destroyed
#3: Wide view of the extensive damage in town
#4: Tree drilled into a home by the strong winds
#5: Boat trailer on a home
I posted Mon. about the "Concert on the Green". I just received a photo from a butterfly release which was done right before the symphony began playing. It was a beautiful sight (& at one point one of the butterflies landed on the symphony conductor!).
The butterflies were donated by the Shady Oak Butterfly Farm. My daughters were fascinated by these butterflies so now, of course, we'll be doing a tour of the farm which is open to the public. Get the details here.
Edith Smith from the farm sent me some fun butterfly facts & info:
Just some notes about butterflies:
You can handle them. Like Grannie’s china, if you handle them roughly, they can ‘chip’ or they can be totaled.
The scales do come off and that’s OK … they can fly without them. Some butterflies in Costa Rica as well as other countries south of us never have scales on their wings. Without scales, their wings are transparent and you can see and read through them. Scales do repel water and if they are missing too many scales and if the wings are broken quite a bit, they can’t do this; This webpage shows what is going on a bit better. We do this with each tour of the farm. Here is a Zebra Swallowtail with some of its scales missing and you can read through its wings.
Their wings break and that is good news! If they didn’t, when a bird grabbed at them and miss the body and grabs the wing instead, they’d be lunch. Instead, their wings break and they live longer. They can fly with over half of their wings totally missing.
They are not dainty. They pee. This is part of a video we created at the farm.
They eat disgusting foods. Here are two Gulf Fritillary butterflies (males of course) eating a dead snake. Front view
The butterflies released at the concert were raised in a laboratory in accordance with USDA law concerning transportation of butterflies across state lines. Online tour of the farm;
Butterflies breathe through their sides
A butterfly egg can fit inside a lower case ‘o’ on a sheet of newspaper.
