Where to go, and when · with the homework done
FLORIDA · MANATEE SEASON · NOV 15 · MAR 31 A manatee trip is a winter trip, and the reason is water temperature rather than preference. Water leaving the Upper Floridan aquifer stays relatively warm through the cold months, so when the river drops, the animals move toward the springs. Nothing about the spring has … Read more
FLORIDA · SPRING BREAK · MARCH March puts two different vacations on top of Florida at the same time. College spring break weighs on the best-known beach towns, while family school holidays fill the Orlando theme parks, so the crowd you walk into has less to do with your date than with the kind of … Read more
FLORIDA · HURRICANE SEASON · JUNE 1 TO NOVEMBER 30 Forty percent of every hurricane recorded striking the United States struck Florida. The count behind that share belongs to NOAA’s hurricane research division: 120 direct hits between 1851 and 2018, 37 of them major, meaning category 3 or above. It is the figure the state’s … Read more
PORTUGAL · SINTRA VS CASCAIS · 38.7° N Two names come up every time a Lisbon trip has a spare day, and they pull in opposite directions: a wooded hill stacked with palaces, or a seafront town with sand, a marina and flat streets. Most travelers ask which one and get told “both,” which only … Read more
JAMAICA · KINGSTON VS MONTEGO BAY · 18.0° N · 18.5° N Montego Bay faces the north shore, Kingston sits on the sheltered south coast, and the weather figures for the two come from two different model grid cells rather than one island average. The south-coast cell over Kingston covers the island’s driest side: 1.12 … Read more
PORTUGAL · DOURO VALLEY VS ALENTEJO · 1991-2020 NORMALS The Douro arrives as a shock of vertical farming: schist terraces stacked from the water to the ridgeline, a river you can follow by road, by rail or by boat, and quintas that have shipped port for generations. The Alentejo does the opposite. It opens out. … Read more
