Drought — Inland Broward County, Florida

2011-02-01 to 2011-02-28 · Inland Broward County, Florida

Event narrative

February was a very dry month over south Florida as high pressure dominated the region's weather pattern. Monthly rainfall totals were less than 1 inch, except for isolated locations in Palm Beach and Hendry counties where between 1.5 and 2 inches of rain were recorded. Over most of Miami-Dade and Broward counties, February rainfall totals were less than a tenth of an inch. As a result, February 2011 was among the top 10 driest Februaries on record at Miami, Miami Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Naples and Canal Point, the 12th driest at Moore Haven and 15th driest at LaBelle. This led to severe drought conditions over most of South Florida, with extreme drought conditions over portions of the southeast coast.

The level of Lake Okeechobee fell about a half-foot during February, from around 12.5 feet to near 12 feet. Forestry officials reported double the number of wildfires during the winter months of 2010-2011 compared to the previous year.

The period of October 2010 to February 2011 was the driest on record in the 80-year history of the South Florida Water Management District's records.

Wider weather episode

Continued dry conditions in February led to the expansion of severe to extreme drought conditions over most of the south Florida peninsula.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 286632. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.