OCALA, Fla. -- Last summer when Tom Cole cranked up his 61-inch Ferris lawn tractor late in the afternoon, he knew the chances were slim that another round of thunderstorms would stop his work.
But this year, despite a 10-inch shortage of rainfall, deluges have caused more problems for his Cole's Lawn Service business than normal.
Typically, a person can set their clock by Florida's patented afternoon thunderstorms.
"The rain has not been just in the afternoon," said Cole, who is also an electrical supply salesman by day. "This year it is not regular. It can come in the morning, afternoon or evening."
Cole, who lives in the Coventry subdivision off West Anthony Road, cuts at least 50 yards every week, usually 10 lawns each day, except for Sundays, in five hours beginning at 3:30 p.m. If rain is so bad that he can't work, then he works on Sunday.
"It's been raining in the evenings more this year, so I have to cut grass in the rain sometimes," said Cole, who immediately stops if he hears thunder or sees lightning.
Cole is just one of thousands of people affected every day by rain.
Rain usually doesn't stop Mike McCammon, a supervisor based in Ocala with the Florida Department of Transportation. His crew of about 30 works on signs, cleans ditches and repairs rights of way.
"We are always looking at the weather and we can send them to another part of the county to work," McCammon said. "Sometimes it causes problems, but we just work around it."
At Hampton Aquatic Complex on Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue, head lifeguard Tamara Baker, 23, often has to make split decisions when it rains so about 100 swimmers are not harmed.
"If it's just a drizzle, and we can see the bottom of the pool, then we will let the people swim," Baker said. "But if it is raining hard enough to where we can't see the bottom, we must get everyone out."
At any given time, four lifeguards are carefully watching swimmers and listening for thunder. If thunder is a spread out and faint, swimmers can stay in the pool. If the thunder is consistent and loud, they empty the pool.
"If it rains all day and no one is allowed to swim, then we (lifeguards) do maintenance inside until it clears up," she said. "We do stay busy regardless."
Scott Armstrong, owner of Armstrong Homes, said he has more than 100 homes under construction and he has flexibility to move workers to inside jobs during rain events that last for hours.
"The biggest problem rain creates is in our site prep work," said Armstrong, specifically referring to preparation to poor concrete slabs and driveways.
Armstrong said the rain can destroy carefully prepared forms and groundwork before concrete is poured. After it's poured, rain can also damage the final product by making marks in the concrete.
Rain is not considered a major problem for roofing, even when no shingles have been installed. Armstrong said he requires all plywood installed on rooftops to be covered with felt paper immediately.
Scott Keegan, a National Weather Service meteorologist, said the usual rain patterns have been affected by a Bermuda high that's farther south than normal.
Usually the Bermuda high stays further north and keeps cold fronts from moving into Florida. Typically, Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico breezes collide over Marion County to cause storms in the afternoon.
But in the last few weeks, actual cold fronts have moved through Marion County. That caused much more instability, slightly lower temperatures and more soaking rain for longer periods.
So far this year, Marion County is still 10 inches below normal in rainfall. That seems wrong to Cole, who said it seems like more rain has fallen this year because of the evening storms.
"It has made it harder to do my job," said Cole, "But I have to do what I have to do."
