Drought — Mainland Monroe, Florida

2009-05-01 to 2009-05-26 · Mainland Monroe, Florida

Event narrative

The drought which began during the late winter months continued into early and mid May over South Florida. A very dry start to the month prompted the issuance of extreme drought (D3) conditions over virtually all of South Florida by the middle of the month.

The onset of the rainy season around May 11 brought copious rainfall to the region as a low pressure trough in the upper levels of the atmosphere set up near South Florida, effectively ending the drought by the last week of May. Many areas received in excess of 10 inches of rain for the month, virtually all of it falling in a period of only 2 weeks. West Palm Beach recorded its second wettest May on record with 15.69 inches of rain.

Wider weather episode

The winter/spring drought over South Florida intensified during early parts of May, but came to a quick end as copious rainfall fell during the last 2 weeks of the month.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 175575. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.