The South Florida Water Management District this week rescinded its strict lawn watering rules put in place months ago for Lee and Collier counties.
Several municipalities in the region have lifted their bans against outdoor burning, including Lee County’s five-month-long prohibition and Cape Coral’s burn ban.
Punta Gorda along the southern shore of the Peace River has seen more than 18 inches of rain so far this year, while other areas have had far less.
Afternoon showers have been popping up throughout Southwest Florida since the year began, but more so since the summer rainy season started May 15 in places like Collier County where 4.5 inches have fallen in less than three weeks.
That’s inspired the watering restrictions and outdoor burn bans to an end in some communities, while others are leaving them in place for now.
This summer's opinion about the drought’s demise appear far less certain than last year's, when the weak rainy season gave many communities enough confidence to drop their burn bans — ones soon reinstated when parched landscapes reappeared in the fall.
“We're still on high alert,” Jesse Lavender, a Florida Forest Service spokesman, said. “There's still some dry pockets here and there and all it's going to take is a couple of days without rain that could be problematic in some areas. We're going to need several more inches of rain before we're out of this.”
Heavy showers anywhere in South Florida, such as the unofficial results in Punta Gorda, have been rare as the worst drought to blanket Florida since the beginning of this century has been locked in place for 18 months.
Lake Okeechobee’s water level dropped so much during the drought that many acres of lakebed are exposed — and some caught fire, torching several square miles in what amounted to a wildfire in the lake.
And 14 counties, mostly in Southwest Florida, still have their outdoor burn bans in place, according to the forest service, perhaps remembering last summer when burn bans were taken down during the summer before the drought raged back after a weak rainy season and the bans went right back up.
That's already happened again this year in Sarasota and Charlotte counties when they lifted their bans in the spring, only to reinstate them weeks later as obvious drought conditions endured.
Irene Sanz, a meteorologist with the Florida Public Radio Emergency Network, said it can be confusing to be in an area that has been receiving a lot of rain and still see that a drought is affecting the state.
“Many residents have wondered why the drought has not improved despite all this rain. The reality is that this is a severe drought,” she said. “The good news is that Florida is now in the rainy season and long-range models continue to show a steady stream of moisture that will keep the rain chances elevated across the state.”
Wildfire managers know that one good round of rain doesn't end a drought. It just buys time.
Environmental reporting for WGCU is funded in part by VoLo Foundation, a non-profit with a mission to accelerate change and global impact by supporting science-based climate solutions, enhancing education, and improving health.
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