Only a few inches of topographical relief can lead to a great difference in the nature of the soil and vegetation. The climate of Florida is subtropical, except for the extreme southern Florida, which is considered tropical. Look at a world map or globe, and you will find that nearly every land mass between the Tropic of Cancer and the 30 degrees north latitude line has a subhumid or arid climate. On my globe this band includes the Sahara Desert, the Great Nefud, Thar Desert, Baja California, the Sonoran and Chihuahuan Deserts of the Southwest and Mexico, and the desert lands of Algeria, Libya, Egypt and Iran. In Florida, the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico surrounding the Florida peninsula transforms the climate to humid.
Thunderstorms occur in late afternoon regularly throughout the summer in Florida.
Tropical storms from the Atlantic and the Caribbean bring hours of heavy rain in the late summer and early fall. In late fall, winter, and early spring, fronts from the North American continent sweep over the state from the northwest. In south Florida, the dry seasons are dryer, and rainy seasons wetter than in north Florida. During the dry season, continental fronts bring the relief of rain, but may also bring very low temperatures, including freezes that occasionally kill extensive areas of mangrove forests along with the citrus we hear about in the news. Wet season tropical storms and hurricanes may cause flooding and wind damage.