Sanibel Day of Clouds

Today there was another cloud show. This is how it looked this afternoon as we crossed the Sanibel Causeway.





We had a few sprinkles of rain, for only a few seconds.

That's the sailboat you can see in the distance, still on it's side.


Later this evening I was on our back deck when these bumpy looking clouds caught my attention.


Then, there was the beginning of another evening rainbow.


I checked the sky again from the front deck, and after seeing this view, I begged to go back out on the causeway to watch the sunset.


Before we left, I was curious as to what kind of clouds they were, so I hurriedly searched on the internet for kinds of clouds. I swear, I learned all about clouds when I was in school, but I've obviously forgotten 99% of it.

First thing I read was; a person who studies clouds is a Nepholologist and a person who photographs clouds is a Nepholographer. I know I don't qualify as a Nepholologist because I assume you would have to be able to remember what you've studied. I doubt I could be classified as a Nepholographer when I'm using a 5 megapixel cell phone camera. Oh well, doesn't matter. I still wanted to know about those clouds.

I finally decided they were mammatocumulus clouds. (I'll let you research for yourself, to find out why they were given that name.)


It was getting close to 8 PM as we drove over the first bridge.



The sun was just on it's way down; and the show that followed, made me really happy to be there.




Looking south again at a thunderstorm. We could see clouds light up from sheet lightning and also lightning bolts. At one point, a big bolt of lightning came from the bottom of a cloud and then it looked like, a dozen or so, fingers of lightning came out of the top of the same cloud, in a fan shape. I'm very afraid of lightning, but I have to say that was awesome. It was different than anything I'd ever seen.


After the sun went down, all of the clouds gradually changed in color.












The wonders of the Sanibel sky are unending. What could be in store for us tomorrow?

Later tonight, we were watching the news and weather. I was quite proud of myself, because the weatherman verified the name of those Mammatus clouds. If I had been patient, he could have saved me a lot of researching. :) Areas all around us got inches of rain, we only got around 1/10 of an inch, on the east end of the island.

A notice came in my email today, that also gave me pause for thought:

Sanibel and the surrounding areas are considered a vacation paradise because of the warm sub-tropical climate. This mixture of sunshine, humidity and heavy rainfall is also a great combination for mosquitoes. I very seldom see a mosquito here, but I’ve seen several in just the past week. That’s why I was happy to see this.

City of Sanibel Notified by
Lee County Mosquito Control District
of Aerial & Ground Spray Activity for
ALL of Sanibel Island Tonight

The Lee County Mosquito Control District (LCMCD) provides mosquito control for Sanibel and all of Lee County. The LCMCD will deploy its' ground spray trucks and helicopter aircraft this evening from 9 p.m. tonight until 2:00 a.m. tomorrow morning for all of Sanibel Island.
"Mosquito Season" typically runs from May through October and mosquito activity increases with rain, particularly after heavy rains that produce large areas of standing water. Due to the abundance of mangroves, wetlands and salt marches, Sanibel is a prime breeding ground for mosquitoes.

We sometimes forget that this island wasn’t always a pleasant place to be. I actually find myself thinking about how tough it was for the early settlers here, when I start complaining about the mosquitoes, and no-see-ums. I’ve read some stories about those days and what they had to deal with, that would have sent me running. However, people who spent most or all of their lives here, say it was worth every bit of it. I think we would all agree that progress in the fight against those pesky mosquitoes, is great!