For some, Florida drought is getting very "extreme"

[SubTropicRay]

2 hours ago, PalmatierMeg said:

My experience of living 30 years in SWFL is that the FL east coast and interior get rain oftener in higher amounts than the west coast . Rainy season starts earlier there and ends later. Starting in mid-May, even earlier, we see rain clouds form over the Gulf then bypass us to go inland to drop their rain. From days up to weeks we stay parched but get to see the rain go east. We joke half-heartedly that we must have an invisible dome over our house to block rain clouds. Although rainy season supposedly starts June 1, SWFL usually has to wait until June 15 or later (after July 1 one year) for life-giving rain. And while our rainy season shuts off like a spigot the 3rd week of Oct., that is often not the case on the FL east coast. My perception is that area gets more rain even during “dry” season.

A rainy season of 4.5 to 5 months vs. a dry season of 7 to 7.5 months means a lot of stress for palms and tropicals, esp. come April and May when the sun grows stronger and heat ratchets up.

It varies summer to summer and depends on whether the east coast or west coast seabreeze dominates.  There've been many years where I got more rain than Melbourne and vice versa.  The "normal" pattern is actually for a more dominant east coast seabreeze giving the east coast morning showers, followed by the interior and then west coast late in the day.  The "normal" pattern seems to never be in place.  

[Looking Glass]

4 hours ago, PalmatierMeg said:

My experience of living 30 years in SWFL is that the FL east coast and interior get rain oftener in higher amounts than the west coast . Rainy season starts earlier there and ends later. Starting in mid-May, even earlier, we see rain clouds form over the Gulf then bypass us to go inland to drop their rain. From days up to weeks we stay parched but get to see the rain go east. We joke half-heartedly that we must have an invisible dome over our house to block rain clouds. Although rainy season supposedly starts June 1, SWFL usually has to wait until June 15 or later (after July 1 one year) for life-giving rain. And while our rainy season shuts off like a spigot the 3rd week of Oct., that is often not the case on the FL east coast. My perception is that area gets more rain even during “dry” season.

A rainy season of 4.5 to 5 months vs. a dry season of 7 to 7.5 months means a lot of stress for palms and tropicals, esp. come April and May when the sun grows stronger and heat ratchets up.

It’s so variable.  A land of extremes.  Last year for us, I felt like the wet season never came.   Bone dry, sunny and hot all summer in SE Florida.   

One thing seems consistent though….  Around 7-8 months straight of drought conditions centered loosely around spring.   Without hurricanes and tropical storms there is little relief sometimes, even in the summer.  We had a great stretch of rain recently, now it’s clear and dry again.    And the sandy soil holds no water.  

[flplantguy]

The april weather data was released by the NWS and it shows exactly what the drought map shows, and a bullseye around tampa bay of minimal precipitation.  Combined with some stations reporting their warmest april ever in spots and its a recipe for bad fire weather and stressed plants.  I got lucky with one heavy downpour and some soaking rains, but most did not even with the intense radar images.

[SubTropicRay]

Got 0.50" unexpectedly Saturday from a 20% rain chance.   

[JLM]

Had a 30% chance of rain. Had a "mesoscale accident" and ended up with almost 3 inches of rain today. I am not having drought issues, but i certainly didnt expect almost 3 inches of rain at any point this week.

[JLM]

What? Who mentioned sunlight controlling?

Anyways, had a 60% chance of showers and storms yesterday, and boy did it produce. I ended up with about 1.27" of rain yesterday. I have a 60% chance again today, and then 80% tomorrow.

[PortCharlotteCocos]

It is getting dry here.  After a couple good rains this month, the past week has been dry.

[aabell]

16 minutes ago, PortCharlotteCocos said:

It is getting dry here.  After a couple good rains this month, the past week has been dry.

Same here, a few April storms and the 10 day forecasts had me too optimistic for an early start to the rainy season but nothing yet. Dry dry dry, and now that the heat has cranked up into the 90s the plants are suffering. Any day now. 

[__nevii]

On 5/3/2023 at 12:02 PM, SubTropicRay said:

It varies summer to summer and depends on whether the east coast or west coast seabreeze dominates.  There've been many years where I got more rain than Melbourne and vice versa.  The "normal" pattern is actually for a more dominant east coast seabreeze giving the east coast morning showers, followed by the interior and then west coast late in the day.  The "normal" pattern seems to never be in place.  

It is possible that there are nuances in moisture flux around wind patterns that can also affect the amount of precipitation in an area. For instance, places like Key West and especially Dry Tortugas are rather low in rainfall despite being surrounded by warm waters. Some places in the Bahamas (i.e. Matthew Town) and the Yucatan (i.e. Progreso) are semi-arid, not to mention the ABC Islands (i.e. Aruba).

[SubTropicRay]

The beat goes on.....and now includes all of Pinellas County and northern Manatee Co.

[JLM]

Oof, hopefully the rainy season goes easy on yall down there, as in it doesnt catch yalls rainfall up in a single week. Yall need the rain yes, but not all at once. Unfortunately, Florida sometimes does Florida things.

[ruskinPalms]

This side of Florida trends wet/dry tropics anyway. It will never be southeast Florida here lol. I’ve had to do a lot of hand watering to keep my stupid mandated by the HOA saint Augustine grass alive but otherwise my palms have been fine with this periodic drought. Quick shot from my almost never dry ditch behind my house:

 

[SubTropicRay]

[SubTropicRay]

Predicted rainfall accumulation for the next 5 days.  The rich get richer yadda yadda yadda                                                 

[kinzyjr]

Sitting at roughly 3 inches for the month.  In most cases, the hot, dry days where it is 95F+ with wind blowing and humidity <= 40% damage the garden more than lack of rain.  Veitchia species absolutely hate that.

[SubTropicRay]

Must be nice!  I haven't had 3 inches of rain all year.  The dark clouds the last few days have been encouraging and did get a brief downpour yesterday.

[kinzyjr]

On 5/24/2023 at 8:31 AM, SubTropicRay said:

Must be nice!  I haven't had 3 inches of rain all year.  The dark clouds the last few days have been encouraging and did get a brief downpour yesterday.

Hope you got a bit of liquid sunshine the last couple of days.  We added 1.5 inches yesterday here at the garden, but will gladly take more. 

[D. Morrowii]

I was in Clearwater yesterday and it poured heavily for a couple of hours. Not much at my place this week though…

[kinzyjr]

2 minutes ago, D. Morrowii said:

I was in Clearwater yesterday and it poured heavily for a couple of hours. Not much at my place this week though…

We just eclipsed the monthly running total of ~4.5 inches in one fell swoop today, with over 5 inches of rain this evening between 8PM and 10:15 PM.  It's feast or famine apparently.

[D. Morrowii]

@kinzyjr You never know what its gonna be I guess. .03” or 3.0” or you get 7” and your buddy a mile away gets nothing. I wish we got a 1” of rain every other day and clouds every afternoon but Florida refuses to give in to my wishes.. I’m afraid we will just have to be satisfied with feasts and famines

[SubTropicRay]

Thankfully got over 2" of rain the last 3 days but it's far from over.  I'm hopeful there's more coming.  Here's the latest map released yesterday.

 

[Visgoth]

Seemingly endless daily downpours here in the Orlando area. The rainy season has arrived for me.

[D. Morrowii]

Stats for here at my place in Merritt Island up to today. From the map @SubTropicRayposted looks like they pulled us (Central East) out of moderate drought and into abnormally dry. 

[PalmatierMeg]

Rained for 90 minutes around noon. Got 1”. Cape Coral is about 7” down for the year and I’m getting tired of watering. Sun is out now.

[flplantguy]

If sprinkles were downpours i would be good but i catch the edge these past few days.  Looks similar today🙄

[Looking Glass]

I’m not sure about the official stats for down here, but it’s been raining 1-2x per day for the last week to 10 days.  It’s like a real wet season for a change!   So much so, that I can’t get anything done outside.  But the plants like it.  So do the termites and ants.   

It’s the time of year where the atmosphere is unstable and showers pop up randomly later in the day and move across the state, and it’s totally unpredictable mile to mile.   Last night they called for a small chance of minor rain, and it poured for a couple of hours.  
 

[ruskinPalms]

We have been getting some rain here lately but only courtesy of a late season frontal boundary. It probably has not transitioned to the summer rain pattern yet as next week looks pretty bone dry and hot for me here. Maybe in another 7 to 10 days the real rainy season will begin here, I hope so any way.

[PalmatierMeg]

2.5 “ in 90 minutes last night. That’s a start.

[PalmatierMeg]

By the way, insane wind and rain during the above event. Took out our second and third canopy setups so far this year.

Just another day in Paradise

[JLM]

As of today's update, the Extreme drought has been taken out. This is wonderful news! Still got a long ways to go though.

[Looking Glass]

Man, it’s gloom-city in these parts lately.  Rain every day.  Not that I’m complaining too much, but this is a wet start to the wet season.  47.2 inches of rain so far this year and we are only starting, while Naples directly across the other coast is sitting at 3.16 inches for the year.  feast or famine….

[flplantguy]

Wow thats a lot!  I'm at about 2 inches this last month with a spattering before that. Not sure the exact amount but nothing close to normal.

[D. Morrowii]

1 hour ago, Looking Glass said:

Man, it’s gloom-city in these parts lately.  Rain every day.  Not that I’m complaining too much, but this is a wet start to the wet season.  47.2 inches of rain so far this year and we are only starting, while Naples directly across the other coast is sitting at 3.16 inches for the year.  feast or famine….

Whoa! That about our yearly average up here. Hopefully that translates into some good growth for you. I wonder if a little preventative fungus control may be in order? 

[Looking Glass]

6 hours ago, D. Morrowii said:

Whoa! That about our yearly average up here. Hopefully that translates into some good growth for you. I wonder if a little preventative fungus control may be in order? 

I’ve definitely been thinking about fungus and rot lately.  It’s been that kind of weather around here.   The lawn has a few patches and some grey leaf spot popping up.  

[UK_Palms]

10 hours ago, flplantguy said:

Wow thats a lot!  I'm at about 2 inches this last month with a spattering before that. Not sure the exact amount but nothing close to normal.

47.2 inches is a hell of a lot of rain. I haven't had any rain here for 23 days now. I think 12th May was my last rainfall, but even that was only like 0.3mm / 0.01 inches. No chance of any fungus or leaf spot appearing around here given how dry it is. I mean it is an absolute tinderbox. We're probably drier than LA right now, although it is significantly warmer here. London and my area will be over 15F warmer than LA later next week. Some rain is needed now for the palms, plants, veg etc. However the Florida style deluges can stay away though! No thanks.

Edited June 4, 2023 by UK_Palms

[kinzyjr]

Ended up with half an inch today.  Going to have to mow tomorrow or I'll need a scythe to take care of the grass.

[SubTropicRay]

It must not take much to get removed from the "extreme" category.  I've had about 2 inches of rain in the last 10 days.  That's hardly a dent in a prolonged 5 months of nothing.  The first map is not welcomed news.

[bubba]

Hey Ray! You want some? Be careful what you ask for!

[SubTropicRay]

9 hours ago, bubba said:

Hey Ray! You want some? Be careful what you ask for!

I'm asking. Bring it!!

[SubTropicRay]

Nothing like killing the rainy season before it even starts.......