JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — To become a part of the First Alert Neighborhood weather station network powered by Tempest - scan below &/or click * here *:
Updated every day throughout the hurricane season (through Nov. 30th so less than 2 weeks left!) - “Talking the Tropics With Mike”.
After a sporadic wet season (June-Sept.) that failed to deliver in some areas - especially north of I-10, parts of the local area are becoming particularly dry as we enter what is typically the driest time of the year. A La Nina (cooling ENSO episode along the equatorial Pacific) pattern such as what is expected through a good part of winter is often drier than average for NE Florida & SE Georgia & could be a potential problem as we approach & reach the wildfire season from late winter into spring. As of Nov. 18th, there has been *no* rain officially at JIA in Duval Co. Since 1871 there has only been one month when rainfall was zero - October, 2010. There have been a number of months with just a trace of rain. There are some signs of a potentially more active period of fronts &, therefore, rainfall after Thanksgiving perhaps lasting into early December.
November is pancreatic cancer awareness month & Thursday, Nov. 20th is “World Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Day”. My mom fought a brief 9-month battle against one of the most deadly cancers there is. Her battle was graceful, valiant, powerful & - for me - life changing. You can read all about it - “A Very Personal Journey: My mom’s fight against terminal cancer”.
Some slow progress has been made - the five year pancreatic cancer survival rate was less than 10% ten years ago & is now 14-18%. One of the biggest hurdles in treating the disease is that pancreatic cancer rarely displays symptoms until the cancer has become late stage.
But there are some encouraging stories out there! I met Pam & Richard Roth from Jacksonville at “PurpleStride” in April of this year. Richard was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer of the pancreas & has not only survived for 8 years but is considered cancer free! Richard was treated at Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville & the combination of Mayo’s work + the Roth’s determination makes Richard a medical miracle.
To learn more about pancreatic cancer, a great resource is the pancreatic cancer action network (PanCan) * here *.
My mom passed from pancreatic cancer in April, 2008:
