For some, Florida drought is getting very "extreme"

[kinzyjr]

Here, we have reached our average for the month at the almost half way point, due mostly to the tropical storm.  It was dry and hot today, nearly cracking triple digits in the yard.

Some of the plants that like it hot and dry like the various Brahea species and Washingtonia filifera can appreciate a day like this.

[SubTropicRay]

The western Panhandle ruined what would have been a clean sweep.

[SubTropicRay]

2 inches of completely unexpected rain last night 👍.  What a turnaround from 365 days ago.

[flplantguy]

I had a half inch yesterday at random, just in time for slightly less humid weather this weekend.  Its enough for happy natives and green weeds this year!  Now to keep pulling them lol.

[kinzyjr]

This little blip of Abnormally Dry on the east coast of Florida must be from @D. Morrowii's neighborhood.

[SubTropicRay]

The yellow grows 🙃

[SeanK]

Tampa's looking at some decent rain over the next 5 days. Pensacola, not so much. Maybe only today.

[SubTropicRay]

2 hours ago, SeanK said:

Tampa's looking at some decent rain over the next 5 days. Pensacola, not so much. Maybe only today.

So day 1 was a total bust...not unusual.  Let's see about days 2-5

[Matthew92]

My location in SE Okaloosa county got .44in of rain several days ago, and then got .37in yesterday. It is helping, but we need more. It's crazy that the typical FL summertime conditions (high humidity with pop ups) yesterday was an anomaly amidst the dry, sinking air that has prevailed over the last 3 weeks. 

Now this morning I am disappointed to notice the air dried out again. Not a cloud in the sky, and just offshore is the moist Gulf airmass with thunderstorms. There's a big flow from the north keeping the moist air down there and continuing to give us this dry continental air. Significant rain chances in the forecast have been pushed back to next Thursday 😤 

[kinzyjr]

On 8/22/2024 at 2:58 PM, SubTropicRay said:

So day 1 was a total bust...not unusual.  Let's see about days 2-5

It has been another weird year.  At this point, the rain total here has eclipsed the 10 inch mark for the month.  The map @SubTropicRay posted is confirmed by a few of the CFPACS folks on the east coast.  One grower in New Smyrna has only seen ~0.25in. of rain this month.  Hope everyone gets a little rain in the next couple of days.  Fall is on the way fast now that Starbucks put out their Pumpkin Spice Lattes.

[SubTropicRay]

Tampa has had 45" of rain for the year thus far.  That's a far cry from the barely 25" we had at this time last year.

[Matthew92]

Average rainfall for the month of August in my town is 9.21inches. Getting close to the end of the month with only 1.66inches so far. This is crazy. 

I envy you guys in the peninsula right now. Thankfully, the high pressure looks to let up just enough to allow for higher chances of pop ups here through the week.

[SeanK]

A bit more this evening.

[flplantguy]

That was a good one! Its been a long time since its felt like a classic rainy season partern but that was a reminder of what it should be. Its been more hit or miss for the big ones here lately.  Hopefully the pattern returns and we get good sweeping rains across the state for us all.

[D. Morrowii]

Leaning towards dry the last few days on this side. I’m only at 27” for the year now but thats not terrible. We got a little over 6” in August so far. Here’s a chart showing the last 30 days. 

[SubTropicRay]

2 inches of rain last night.  We are approaching 50" for the year which is again, a total flip from last year.

[SubTropicRay]

Got blasted by another 2 inches of rain late yesterday afternoon.  I'm in awe of this weather pattern and wish every summer was like this.  It's like the days of old.  Hopefully winter will NOT be days of old.

[kinzyjr]

Ended up getting skunked with only a trace yesterday while most of the rest of town got some measurable amount.  The part of Lakeland near Duff Rd. has a lot of standing water in yards in the areas that are flat.  They've gotten a lot of rain this summer.

[flplantguy]

Yesterday was weird for me. Everyone got hammered and i drove home in some of the worst weather ive ever dealt with in terms of rain intensity. At home? Sprinkles and some late rain at the tail end. Odd that it always seems to be the edge of the downpour there while outside that spot its normal. My coworkers in the area noticed too so inknow its not just me lol.  Every year is different for us all i guess.

[sonoranfans]

We have had some rain for all but 3 days the last few weeks.  Irrigation is off the last couple weeks.  We got  1.5" day before yesterday 0.85 inch yesterday and currently raining pretty heavy with 1 inch already measured today.     

[SeanK]

Spotty rain for central Florida today.

 

[Matthew92]

Cruel and unusual for what should be the most rainy time of year here. It just continues. Western FL Panhandle officially now in a moderate drought category (Map published Aug 29th). 1.88 in for the month on my weather station at the house. Average rainfall for my town in August is 9.21in!

50%+ chances of rain in the forecast seem to always be about 4-5 days away, and then keep getting pushed back. Rinse and repeat for weeks. We've had a few days with pop ups in the area (that usually miss my location), but never a soaker that hits most areas. Some tree's leaves in the area are starting to prematurely turn yellow out of extreme stress. 

I have a community project of planting small trees in the median of our neighborhood. If it weren't for me lugging out buckets of water to dump on them every few/several days (usually something I only have to do in the late spring and fall) some of them would probably be getting to the point of irreversible decline. 

Now with all the crazy rain along the central and western Gulf of Mexico right now (with rain as close as Mobile), all the atmospheric energy is being used up over there and our area remains high and dry. Something's gotta give for our area soon.

[kinzyjr]

Lately, it has been in that routine where it clouds up with thunder and lightning, then nothing happens, it clears out, and it's blazing hot again.  We'll see what happens as we close out summer.  August is in the books as of midnight tonight.  If we get nothing today, it still leaves me with little to complain about with a monthly total of 10.25 in. of rain for August.  It would be really nice with more rain in September to make up for a miserable May.

[Looking Glass]

Well, can’t really complain about August…. the last few weeks it’s been raining 1/3-1/2 inch every other day or every day.   10.59 inches spread out and interspersed with hot sunny days.   Fairly ideal conditions.  

 

[Matthew92]

Still waiting for a meaningful rainfall here (insert meme image of skeleton sitting on park bench). Got around 1 inch at the very beginning of August. Then for the rest of the month only got 0.44in on Aug 19th, 0.34in on Aug 23rd, and 0.10 in on Aug 27th. As us Floridians know: those amounts are nowhere near enough to replenish a parched sandy soil. I had plants wilting the day after those rainfalls. 

Had pop ups in the area the last 3 days, but every single one has missed my location. Indescribably frustrating. Now only have 3 days left before the higher rain chances taper off. I have been disappointed so many times now I will only believe it when I see it! Oh how I miss a regular FL rainy season! (like you guys in the Tampa area have been getting).... Driest August I've ever experienced in my 17 years living here...

[D. Morrowii]

We are out of the loop over here in the current weather pattern and It’s been quite a few days since we had any real rainfall. I had a couple of .02s but nothing to moisten the soil. Had 6.8” for the month of August though so thats pretty good. Another good thing is that the temps have been a bit milder which has things perked up a little. I suppose its the same East wind that is both keeping the rain away and knocking the temps down.

[SubTropicRay]

Tampa had 17.78" of rain in August and over 38" since June 1.  I had 4 inches yesterday and another deluge is underway right now.  Mother nature has a way of compensating but the turnaround in one year is staggering and unprecedented.   The areas with the worst drought conditions a year ago (Sarasota/Venice) have received the most rain a year later.

[kinzyjr]

Thus far this year, approximately 44 inches of rain.  With any luck, we'll hit at least 50 inches of rain by the end of September before the cooler, dry season starts.

[Matthew92]

Well surprise surprise.... My location was supposed to be in the midst of a multi-day rainfall event, and guess what.. so far, nothing! 

A couple days ago, the rainfall percentage for today was 87%, and now it's a measly 30%. Going outside, the air is hardly warm, lower humidity, and just feels stable. Sure enough, according to the NWS discussion, a shallow layer of dry air has moved in from the Northeast and squashed chances of rain. They even mentioned that any showers that try to move in will likely erode away. 

The radar image is quite telling: weak, anemic convection that can hardly squeeze a drop of rain over land. It feels like something is broken in the atmosphere here.

Allegedly.... tomorrow is supposed to be the BIG day for rain across the area. I desperately hope it will deliver. Something's got to give soon....

 

[Matthew92]

And now we've been upgraded from moderate to exceptional drought category. Amazing how localized it is.

[kinzyjr]

@Matthew92 Are there any areas with predominantly clay soil around your area?  Have they handled this dry spell any better?

The sandy areas for sure are bone dry by now.  That bulge of continental air down that far this early spells disaster waiting to happen when winter actually starts.

[SubTropicRay]

Tampa is at 58" of rain so far this year.  I'm stunned. 

[FlaPalmLover]

The Orlando suburbs have been getting a bunch of rain the past couple of weeks. The forecast shows more rain coming for the next week or so, too. My palms are loving it.

[Matthew92]

10 hours ago, kinzyjr said:

@Matthew92 Are there any areas with predominantly clay soil around your area?  Have they handled this dry spell any better?

The sandy areas for sure are bone dry by now.  That bulge of continental air down that far this early spells disaster waiting to happen when winter actually starts.

Farther north in my county there is more clay. Also near Tallahassee. Those areas are in moderate to exceptional drought though so I guess there's a point where it doesn't make as much of a difference.

[SeanK]

Perhaps too light to make a dent. Most stays off shore

[SubTropicRay]

So much for the steady rains.  Nada for the last 8 days

[D. Morrowii]

This is starting to feel personal lol.
However we did get almost 4” of rain this week. Just in time to keep the grass green…

 

[Matthew92]

The shield finally got broken through! 4.47in. in the last 36 hours! (3+ inches overnight in the early morning hours). So thankful. Francine really flung intense convection in the far eastern bands. Brought the deep Gulf moisture and humidity which we've been lacking. It actually felt weird to have "normal' FL humidity after all this dry continental air.

I'm curious as to how the rest of September and October will play out. The last 2 years featured a rain free period late Sept through most of October due to dry continental air+high pressure behind strong cold fronts. While that pattern happens here frequently in the fall, it sometimes can be wet (such as 2007, 2017, 2018, and 2020...) I'm thinking that since the last 2 years have been incredibly dry during that period we might be due for a wetter one (I hope). Or it may end up being dry and wet periods mixed in... we'll see.

[SeanK]

It's worse to the north.

 

[SubTropicRay]