Drought — Coastal Palm Beach, Florida

2007-05-01 to 2007-05-31 · Coastal Palm Beach, Florida

Event narrative

Well-below normal winter and spring rainfall along with a prolonged period of dry weather going back to early 2006 caused for severe drought conditions to spread southward across South Florida. As of May 29th, all of South Florida north of a West Palm Beach to Naples line was under D3 (extreme) drought status, with areas south of that line in a D2 (severe) drought status, with the exception of Miami-Dade County which was not considered to be in a drought.

Rainfall had begun to fall a little more regularly by the end of the month across eastern sections, but remained sporadic all month across interior and western areas.

The level of Lake Okeechobee continued to lower, and reached a all-time record low of 8.94 feet by May 31st. Significant impacts continued for the general public as water usage restrictions continued across South Florida. Phase 3 restrictions (50 percent reduction in usage) were in effect while the rest of South Florida was under Phase 2 restrictions (30 percent reduction). Wells across most of South Florida were running at below 10 percent of normal, and underground reservoirs were also running below normal area-wide.

The extremely dry conditions along with scattered thunderstorms early in the month resulted in several wildfires breaking out across South Florida as a result of lighning. One wildfire burned in the Big Cypress National Preserve in Collier County for over a month from a lightning strike on May 4th, with over 60,000 acres burned. Another wildfire in the Picayune Strand State Forest started from lightning on May 7th, burning over 18,000 acres. On May 8th, the fire damaged 3 homes in the Golden Gate Estates area and threatened 33 others. Yet another lightning-sparked wildfire in Hendry County started on May 19th, consuming over 4,000 acres and threatening homes in Felda.

Wider weather episode

A dry spring across South Florida combined with a prolonged period of below normal rainfall going back to early 2006 produced severe to extreme drought conditions across most of South Florida.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 37846. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.