We're on our way to milder (but also wetter). Early Thu. will feature a light inland freeze with plenty of frost though most spots will only have a few hours below freezing. Temps. will stay above freezing near the St. Johns River to the coast. Then we're done with the subfreezing cold through next week...probably longer.
This cold has continued to "stun" sea turtles. The photo below shows work being done Wed. at the Ga. Sea Turtle Center. Here's a press release from the turtle center:
Last week you received some information on 100 sea turtles that had been found floating that were rescued from the Mosquito Lagoon in Florida after cold water shocked their tropically inclined systems. And as you may recall, the Georgia Sea Turtle Center has been working closely with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to help rescue and rehabilitate some of these turtles.
Earlier today the Georgia Sea Turtle Center released 8 of the 10 cold stunned turtles that were rescued last week and 2 kemps ridleys and a loggerhead that was cold stunned in NC in Ft Lauderdale, FL. To date, there have been 2300 sea turtle strandings on the east and west coasts of Florida to date with the recent cold weather. This is very unusual weather for Florida which is why so many turtles have been affected….they usually get some cold stunning but never in this magnitude.
Just as an FYI – sea turtles can handle slower temperature drops up to about 50 F water temperature and then they start having problems. Most of the turtles are feeding in shallow water so the water is more prone to drop if there are sudden drops in air temperature…….Deeper water is not as much of a problem for them.
The Caribbean quake in Haiti was along a strike-slip fault (2 tectonic plates moving alongside each other) vs. a subduction zone where plates move underneath one another. Click here for a simple yet well written article on the web from National Public Radio & here for an explanation & diagrams from the USGS.
