Florida peas and the weather

I've lived in the Orlando area for 30 years...to me it's our "normal" summer weather. It's been very hot & humid of late. It's not uncommon to have afternoon thunderstorms lasting anywhere from 15/20 minutes to a couple of hours of rain. Sometimes you can just drive down the street a little ways and either drive right into a downpour or out of a downpour.

I would prepare for afternoon storms and consider myself lucky if they don't happen. By prepare, I mean keep umbrellas in the car or pack a rain poncho if you're going to be out and about at one of the theme parks. Also, do not keep your windows down on your car because you never can tell when a storm will pop up.

It's raining today, but I'm near Tampa. It's been overcast today (the whole day). NORMALLY here we get a violent rainstorm out of the blue and then 10 minutes later it's cleared up and all dry. For the past year though, FL has been getting rain that's lasted for days on end. I haven't seen that yet this year. Bring a hooded rainjacket that you could fold up and carry in your bag. Even Floridians do this in "rainy season". I do it all year here. I also carry an extra sweater, an umbrella, socks and sneakers, rainboots, etc., because I never know how cold I'll get. I dress in layers.