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For some, Florida drought is getting very "extreme"


SubTropicRay

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While folks in SE Florida are swimming in rain, the west central area hasn't seen much rain since the calendar changed to 2023.  I don't see much relief in the short term.  

Florida Drought Monitor

 

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Tampa, Interbay Peninsula, Florida, USA

subtropical USDA Zone 10A

Bokeelia, Pine Island, Florida, USA

subtropical USDA Zone 10B

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I seem to remember last year that the storms were popping up on the east side or middle of the state and pushing west around this time. It was very frustrating for me being on the East Coast because these huge storms are pop up and start dumping rain, but always move away from where I was. I. We are at 4 inches of rain at my house for this year. I’m not really sure if that’s normal or not. I do know that over the last 4 to 5 years we average about 50 inches of rain and last year we got 62 inches of rain the 10 extra inches. It’s probably due to the two hurricanes.

I know it’s frustrating waiting for it but I’m sure it will come eventually. 

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We just got a bunch of rain recently.  Did you guys not have any on the west coast?

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Brevard County, Fl

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4 hours ago, Jimbean said:

We just got a bunch of rain recently.  Did you guys not have any on the west coast?

The map posted was updated on April 18th and says it all.  The dark red area has had little if any rain in nearly 4 months.

Tampa, Interbay Peninsula, Florida, USA

subtropical USDA Zone 10A

Bokeelia, Pine Island, Florida, USA

subtropical USDA Zone 10B

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9 hours ago, Jimbean said:

We just got a bunch of rain recently.  Did you guys not have any on the west coast?

I had an inch last week, but nothing before for a really long time.

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Westchase | 9b 10a  ◆  Nokomis | 10a  ◆  St. Petersburg | 10a 10b 

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Ended up with roughly 2.5 inches of rain between April 15th and April 18th.  Same as above though, not much for a while before that.  We could use at least one more good shot of rain next week before the rainy season begins in earnest.

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Lakeland, FL

USDA Zone 1990: 9a  2012: 9b  2023: 10a | Sunset Zone: 26 | Record Low: 20F/-6.67C (Jan. 1985, Dec.1962) | Record Low USDA Zone: 9a

30-Year Avg. Low: 30F | 30-year Min: 24F

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We had 1.75” unexpectedly earlier this week otherwise drought for sure. I have craptastic builder special irrigation with reclaimed water in my yard which would be ok if I had nothing but saint augustine however my various plantings block a lot of the default irrigation and I still have had to hand water the grass. For the record, established palm landscape beds and other supporting plants in the beds have not looked stressed. It is the blocked saint Augustine that gets crispy and tries to die this time of year…

Parrish, FL

Zone 9B

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I do hope these do well. I have found out just because something is supposedly native doesn’t necessarily make it easy. 

Edited by ruskinPalms
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Parrish, FL

Zone 9B

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Ended up with about a half inch of rain last night.  That certainly helped.  Hope everyone else got a little rain as well.

Lakeland, FL

USDA Zone 1990: 9a  2012: 9b  2023: 10a | Sunset Zone: 26 | Record Low: 20F/-6.67C (Jan. 1985, Dec.1962) | Record Low USDA Zone: 9a

30-Year Avg. Low: 30F | 30-year Min: 24F

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The queen palms around look unhappy in the sandhills. I used to see that look in New Mexico on plants before the monsoon season kicked in.  Nothing substantial yet this year, the fronts in january had rain but nothing noteworthy.  Wetlands levels are about 1 to 2 feet below the high mark on baldcypress but not dry yet.

Edited by flplantguy
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On 4/22/2023 at 8:43 AM, kinzyjr said:

Ended up with about a half inch of rain last night.  That certainly helped.  Hope everyone else got a little rain as well.

Dry as a bone here.  Still waiting to complement the .13" of rain I got in January.  

Tampa, Interbay Peninsula, Florida, USA

subtropical USDA Zone 10A

Bokeelia, Pine Island, Florida, USA

subtropical USDA Zone 10B

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In Merritt Island we got an unexpected 1.77 inches Saturday night into Sunday. The forecast was for 30% coverage and less than 1/4 inch. That storm cell bumped us up to almost 6 inches for the year. Surprised and very happy to get it. Hopefully more to come this week especially for the Central West. 

F74CD5A8-5F34-458B-A9C2-6CEAFCE1F865.jpeg

6A696C57-875F-40F4-A69F-CEF8A34C8BF9.jpeg

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The latest NWS forecast is looking promising. Hopefully an early start to the rainy season and not a teaser but I will take anything i can get.

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13 hours ago, flplantguy said:

The latest NWS forecast is looking promising. Hopefully an early start to the rainy season and not a teaser but I will take anything i can get.

15 hours ago, SubTropicRay said:

Dry as a bone here.  Still waiting to complement the .13" of rain I got in January.

Hopefully you both got a bit coming this week.  We had ~0.50 inch today. 

@D. Morrowii  That's a pretty good rainfall for this early.  I think we'd all take an extra month of rainy season.

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Lakeland, FL

USDA Zone 1990: 9a  2012: 9b  2023: 10a | Sunset Zone: 26 | Record Low: 20F/-6.67C (Jan. 1985, Dec.1962) | Record Low USDA Zone: 9a

30-Year Avg. Low: 30F | 30-year Min: 24F

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I felt a few raindrops on my head.  That is an improvement I suppose.

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Tampa, Interbay Peninsula, Florida, USA

subtropical USDA Zone 10A

Bokeelia, Pine Island, Florida, USA

subtropical USDA Zone 10B

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I’m working in Clearwater this week and it looked like it would rain here yesterday but never did. The local weather guy said good chance of rain this week then maybe back to a dry spell. Who ever knows for sure though.

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Yesterday brought a nice deluge to the yard and most of the area for the first time in a while. All the native plants reacted fast and look happier.

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My predicted rainfall percentages and WPC accumulation totals appear to be dropping as the week progresses.  I may somehow escape this week without a drop again.  Still at 0.13" for the year and counting......

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Tampa, Interbay Peninsula, Florida, USA

subtropical USDA Zone 10A

Bokeelia, Pine Island, Florida, USA

subtropical USDA Zone 10B

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Everything is really dry here, I hand water 3x a week to avoid setbacks on my younger wet loving palms.  Its a good thing I have lots of filtered shade from groups of mature palms.  I am appreciating the drought tolerant palms I have in sunny positions as this limits the running around with sprinkler some.  accumulations 1.5" in jan, 0.1" in feb   0.09" in march and 0.56" april for a total of 2.25" this year but only 0.75" over the past 3 months.    

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Formerly in Gilbert AZ, zone 9a/9b. Now in Palmetto, Florida Zone 9b/10a??

 

Tom Blank

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I just had a huge downpour and hail storm here in south Brevard.  It sucks that you guys on the west coast didn't get any rain.

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Brevard County, Fl

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Florida is such a weird state for rain sometimes.  You can have an abundance, versus a drought very close by.   We are lucking out this year aside from the massive flooding we had a few weeks ago.  It’s been raining hard every few days.   Strange for this time of year, where it’s usually hot and dry in “spring”.  A little too wet for the lawn, but I’ll take it.   Most of the palms are loving it.   Feels more like September out there.  

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1 hour ago, Looking Glass said:

Florida is such a weird state for rain sometimes.  You can have an abundance, versus a drought very close by.   We are lucking out this year aside from the massive flooding we had a few weeks ago.  It’s been raining hard every few days.   Strange for this time of year, where it’s usually hot and dry in “spring”.  A little too wet for the lawn, but I’ll take it.   Most of the palms are loving it.   Feels more like September out there.  

Very true. Well below average for the year here in Fort Myers for the year but a luckily after a handful of decent rain events in the past few weeks it no longer seems desperately dry here. I know there are locations nearby which still haven't gotten anything.

Last summer was wetter than normal and then after Ian, to add insult to injury, it was like the hose just turned off. It barely rained here on the south side of the storm and we didn't get another drop for weeks after. Everything that didn't get killed by the wind was suddenly in the sun and dry as a bone, and then in December cold for a week straight.

Things starting to recover now, it's been a long winter. Can't wait for more rain. 

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Nada for me....again.  I'm In Melbourne for work today and the folks I'm visiting are telling me about the hail storm and heavy rain.   The road easements are green which is a stark contrast to the brown prevalent in my area.  The rainfall predicted accumulation for me went from 3+" inches to now barely an inch.  It will end up in the hundreths when it's done.  The forecasters have lost all credibility with me.  It's gonna be dry until June.

Tampa, Interbay Peninsula, Florida, USA

subtropical USDA Zone 10A

Bokeelia, Pine Island, Florida, USA

subtropical USDA Zone 10B

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5 hours ago, SubTropicRay said:

Nada for me....again.  I'm In Melbourne for work today and the folks I'm visiting are telling me about the hail storm and heavy rain.   The road easements are green which is a stark contrast to the brown prevalent in my area.  The rainfall predicted accumulation for me went from 3+" inches to now barely an inch.  It will end up in the hundreths when it's done.  The forecasters have lost all credibility with me.  It's gonna be dry until June.

Several years ago, I was surprised to learn from @RedRabbit how dry the Tampa area can be for the year overall.  0.13 inches is pretty dry for the first four full months of a year.  Lakeland Linder (KLAL) and the next NOAA rain gauge from me (US1FLPK0048) have recorded the following totals thus far this year:

202304271820_Rainfall_Lakeland_vs_LakelandHighlands.jpg.4f3316cbb1bee50b748bc36e40d70d4e.jpg

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Lakeland, FL

USDA Zone 1990: 9a  2012: 9b  2023: 10a | Sunset Zone: 26 | Record Low: 20F/-6.67C (Jan. 1985, Dec.1962) | Record Low USDA Zone: 9a

30-Year Avg. Low: 30F | 30-year Min: 24F

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just got another 2.5" this afternoon. Anyone on the gulf side...will trade rain for good bourbon! 😂

Jacksonville Beach, FL

Zone 9a

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And just as i post this the winds just slammed the house.  Check your plants in the morning i would not be surprised to lose a tree or two.

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Its coming down in a nice steady light to moderate rain now.  Some siding off the house and some plants blown over but the soaking is wonderful

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11 hours ago, flplantguy said:

Its almost here now.  I would be dumbfounded if it fell apart at this point.

Lots of wind, broken pots but it mostly fell apart in my area.  When said and done, it rained lightly for about 10 minutes.  I'll check the accumulation later.  The wait for June resumes.

Tampa, Interbay Peninsula, Florida, USA

subtropical USDA Zone 10A

Bokeelia, Pine Island, Florida, USA

subtropical USDA Zone 10B

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2 hours ago, SubTropicRay said:

Lots of wind, broken pots but it mostly fell apart in my area.  When said and done, it rained lightly for about 10 minutes.  I'll check the accumulation later.  The wait for June resumes.

It rained for hours here in Westchase, and only 10 minutes there? We really aren’t that far apart.

Westchase | 9b 10a  ◆  Nokomis | 10a  ◆  St. Petersburg | 10a 10b 

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nearest station says 0.8" overnight, palms are glowing, happy.  It rained pretty hard from the sound, it may have been more than that

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Formerly in Gilbert AZ, zone 9a/9b. Now in Palmetto, Florida Zone 9b/10a??

 

Tom Blank

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Ended up with a solid rainstorm for hours with high winds.  There were a lot of large branches down in Bartow.  I'm somewhat perplexed by the lack of rain in South Tampa as well.

Lakeland, FL

USDA Zone 1990: 9a  2012: 9b  2023: 10a | Sunset Zone: 26 | Record Low: 20F/-6.67C (Jan. 1985, Dec.1962) | Record Low USDA Zone: 9a

30-Year Avg. Low: 30F | 30-year Min: 24F

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Up to .28” for the year wooohoo 😝. Got a whopping .15” of drought busting rain this past week 😂.  The intensity of the drizzle almost carried me away.  Come on June.

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Tampa, Interbay Peninsula, Florida, USA

subtropical USDA Zone 10A

Bokeelia, Pine Island, Florida, USA

subtropical USDA Zone 10B

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On 4/28/2023 at 9:21 AM, RedRabbit said:

It rained for hours here in Westchase, and only 10 minutes there? We really aren’t that far apart.

That’s worlds apart in Florida 😂.  10 blocks can make a world of difference.  You’re in the rain belt man.  I’m in the desert.  The bay is a rain killer.

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Tampa, Interbay Peninsula, Florida, USA

subtropical USDA Zone 10A

Bokeelia, Pine Island, Florida, USA

subtropical USDA Zone 10B

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Latest map released last Thursday, April 27th.  It's not better.....

image.thumb.png.71c4d80beb549856096d764d5e019109.png

 

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Tampa, Interbay Peninsula, Florida, USA

subtropical USDA Zone 10A

Bokeelia, Pine Island, Florida, USA

subtropical USDA Zone 10B

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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.

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Meg

Palms of Victory I shall wear

Cape Coral (It's Just Paradise)
Florida
Zone 10A on the Isabelle Canal
Elevation: 15 feet

I'd like to be under the sea in an octopus' garden in the shade.

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