Drought in Metropolitan Miami-dade, Florida

Below normal rainfall fell over most of South Florida during the month of April. Rainfall amounts ranged from a quarter of an inch to about 1 inch over interior and western sections of the South Florida peninsula, to about 1 to 3 inches on average over the eastern half of the peninsula. This led to the continuation of extreme drought conditions (D3) over the eastern half of the peninsula and severe drought conditions (D2) over most of the western sections of South Florida.

Long term percent of normal rainfall across South Florida since October 2010 ranged from 30 to 50 percent of normal over most areas, except 60 to 75 percent in a few areas along the east coast as well as west of Lake Okeechobee. Underground water levels were in the lowest 10 percent of normal levels along the east coast and 10 to 30 percent of normal over interior and west coast areas.

The level of Lake Okeechobee fell from 12.15 at the beginning of the month to 11.66 by the end of the month. This was about 2.5 feet below normal for April.

A prolonged period of drier than normal conditions continued over South Florida during the month of April.