@farmerman,
I once decided (foolishly) to fly through an innocent-looking and somewhat isolated developing thunderstorm at about 15 thousand feet over the Florida panhandle, just East of Pensacola in an early model A-4 (a small single seat delta wing aircraft). A after about 40 seconds of violent turbulence accompanied by the sound of grinding ice pellets hitting the aircraft I emerged, shaken but intact, However all the paint on the first 5 feet of the wings was gone - with the shiny aluminum instead of paint it looked like an Air Force aircraft.
I had a bit of trouble explaining my decision to a very irritated Squadron maintenance officer. I can still recall his reef face, pointing finger and anger ... "Tell me again Lieutenant just what the **** lead you to think that was a good idea..."
You're right Florida does present some unusual extremes of weather and its side effects. In my experience, the worst thunderstorms occur over the panhandle, and south, between Orlando and Lake Okeechobee. That lake is about 30 miles in diameter , but only about 30 feet deep at its center - a giant shallow saucer, capable of being stirred up to serious violence by a summer thunderstorm. My company was doing an experimental dredging project there to see if we could significantly decrease the load of suspended nutrients in the lake (the water is black and opaque with them) at reasonable cost. I was inspecting the operation one day when a thunderstorm emerged over the lake. Very quickly we were immersed in chaotic 12 foot swells and damn near lost the dredging rig and the people on it.
Later that evening, and after a few drinks in a bar in Jupiter, I decided to cancel the operation as not worth the risk.
