Atlantic Dawn: North Peninsula State Park; 26 February 2014

North Peninsula State Park, photographed in Volusia county, Florida (26 February 2014).

This is our sixth Atlantic Dawn post for 2014. Once again, we’re watching the sun rise over the Atlantic Ocean at North Peninsula State Park early on a Wednesday morning. I travel from Ormond Beach north to Palm Coast each and every Wednesday for work. Fortunately for me, this morning commute is quite lovely when tracing A1A northbound.

This particular sunrise was another fantastic one. The air was moderately mild thanks to a relative break between cold fronts. And the sky? The sky was thickly textured with clouds. Though the morning quickly became somewhat overcast and gray, there was a short span of moments where and when the sun peered out from just above the horizon and just below the cloud cover, illuminating everything above in a mixed tangle of oranges, reds, golds, blues, and violets. It was a beautiful start to a beautiful day.

Soon enough, however, the sun rose and disappeared behind the thick cloud coverage awaiting just overhead to my east. The light dimmed a bit, and the fiery promise of the morning bowed before the thickly matted grays of clouds, clouds, and yet even more clouds. This has indeed been a winter of cloud coverage in central Florida.

I never tire of the Atlantic sunrises of central Florida. I truly don’t. That being said, I’m feeling antsy for more. As I type this, March has officially arrived and spring should be imminent (if these damn cold fronts will ever stop moving in). I’m ready to get outside when the sun is glaring from far overhead and the day is soaked in heat and humidity. I’m ready to battle the harsh figure-ground contrasts of a brilliantly-lit and steamy Florida afternoon. I am, to put it bluntly, over this winter. I’m ready for spring, and I want summer!

Next on Dust Tracks: Sunrises are nice, and so’s the ocean… We certainly will have more Atlantic Dawn posts in the near future, but I think we need some wildlife! Surely we can find some wildlife in the midst of all these crazed cold snaps, right? (Hint: Oh hell yes)

~ janson