Paradise Coast Paddlers Club Meeting NotesMarch 5, 2014

There were about 35 members in attendance at the regular monthly meeting held at the Collier County North Government Center.

Mike: The Beach Bash returns on March 14th. Shirts are on sale at $5 for cotton shirts and $10 for paddling shirts. The 3rd Sunday paddle will be at Mike’s favorite place, the Cocohatchee River. Directions are on the Meet-up page. No rentals. There were 36 paddlers at the first Sunday paddle at the Fish House.

March 15th, David Whitford is doing a paddle to Indian Kay.The Turner River is closed to paddling effective March 10th, until the water levels are sufficient. An alternative would be Half-Way Creek.

Guest Speaker: Luke Gommermann, ranger at Big Cypress National PreserveTopic: Mountains of the Big Cypress

Clouds are the “mountains of the Big Cypress.” The similarities between the clouds and mountains are remarkable.Shape: Mountains are like steep, rocky towers. Clouds can resemble steep, rocky towers.Name: The word “cloud” comes from the old English “clud” – meaning a mass of rock.Mt. Everest is the tallest point on earth at 9Km. The tallest mountain is Mana Loa in Hawaii, it rises 15Km from the sea floor, 10km above the water. Clouds reach heights of 20 Km, and can be larger.Formation: at the surface of the earth plates move slowly away from each other in the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. In California the plates are sliding over each other, in central Asia the plates collide, causing geologic uplift. Clouds are formed by uplift of water molecules. Hydrogen bonds connect the water molecules and they flow together.As the sun rises the temperature increases and the water molecules evaporate, they lose contact with each other. When the rising water molecules make contact with dust in the atmospherethe vapor turns back into water. A cloud is dust particles surrounded by water molecules. The sunlight reflects off them and makes they appear white.

Mountains have a rain shade effect. Warm moist air cools as it travels up the side of the mountain and then it rains. The far side of the mountain is dry. Mountains direct the local air flow. The central California valley has smog since the mountains on each side prevent the smog from dispersing.

There are two watersheds in Florida. The Everglades – Lake Okeechobee – the River of Grass flows into Florida Bay. The second one is the Big Cypress Swamp Watershed. All the water in the Big Cypress comes from rain – or clouds. Lightening from thunderstorms helps maintain habitat by causing fires and burning the underbrush.

In the Arctic, the clouds block the sun, helping the ice, acting like an umbrella. (Cumulus)

Stratus clouds can act like a blanket keeping the warm air in.

When a cloud precipitates it helps clean the air of smog.

There are three levels of clouds.Low – 0-10,000’, Medium 10,000-25,000’, High 25,000-40,000’A hot air balloon travels at about 5,000’, in the 10,000-25,000’ range the air is dense; airplanes do not travel at this level. Commercial jets travel in the 25,000-40,000’ level.

We can predict the weather by looking at the clouds.

Red sky in the morning means stormy weather. Red sky at night fair weather.

There are also unusual clouds. Mammatus clouds are high level clouds that look like gumdrops.

Clouds are imagination stations.

You can join www.cloudappreciationsociety.com to see pictures of clouds or upload your pictures.