TROPICAL DEPRESSION 2

Home in Port Charlotte
High of 90

I woke up this morning at 5AM to take the grand-twins, Devin & Dylan, beach fishing on the Gulf of Mexico.  We went to Stump Pass State Park, near Englewood.  It was a warm, humid morning with a partly cloudy sky and temperatures starting at 79, working up to 90.

The fishing was slow but Devin managed to land one rare lizard fish.  The boys spent some time swimming while I continued practicing my casting.  By 1030AM we headed for home, where Kathy had breakfast bagel sandwiches for brunch.  We were joined by Ron & Carol, our neighbors who are headed back to Long Island, NY tomorrow.  They will return in October.

The second tropical depression of the 2011 Atlantic Hurricane season has formed about 100 miles east of Melbourne, FL.  It is no threat to our area in Southwest Florida. Current winds are 35 MPH.  It is forecast to become the a Tropical Storm by tomorrow afternoon.  If it does, it will receive the name Bret.  Above is the "cone of uncertainty" showing the likely track it will take back out into the Atlantic and not make a US landfall.

The first named storm from this season was TS Arlene, which formed in the far western reaches of the Gulf of Mexico and the Bay of Campeche, last June 28.  Arlene was so far away from Florida, I didn't even blog about it.  She made landfall on June 30 in Mexico and the ensuing flooding took 22 lives.

Sunday, 8PM update:  the storm has strengthened and has become Tropical Storm Bret.

I'm flying out to Baltimore tomorrow evening for a week of working in Maryland and the DC Metro area.
I will continue to monitor the weather developments in the Atlantic while I'm on the road.