Drought in Coastal Palm Beach, Florida

A 13-month period of below normal rainfall ended on May 20 with the beginning of the 2001 rainy season. Rainfall amounts since May 2000 over interior and southwest portions of south Florida and over all of Palm Beach County averaged about 30% below normal. Lake Okeechobee fell to an historic low level of 9.1 feet. Sugar cane and other crops were adversely impacted as were marine activities around Lake Okeechobee. An above normal number of wildfires occurred with occasional periods of smoke drifting into the southeast and southwest Florida metropolitan areas.