The U.S. Drought Monitor announced Thursday that drought conditions have improved throughout much of the Tampa Bay area.
Coastal Citrus, Hernando, Pasco, Pinellas and Hillsborough counties are back to normal conditions, while inland areas are mainly “abnormally dry."
April started out very dry, but it caught up and exceeded normal rainfall totals towards the end of the month.
April has seen 6.73 inches of rain at Tampa International Airport. April typically receives 2.03 inches by the end of the month.
This comes on the heels of March, which had only a couple of unmeasurable rain events and was the driest month in Tampa weather history.
You can’t say the same for much of southern Florida, as they’re still in a severe drought. In fact, 7 percent of Florida is now in a severe drought, and it’s mainly taking place in our southern counties.
The severe drought category, D2, corresponds to an area where pasture is dying and the fire risk is high -- lawns and landscapes go dormant, bears and snakes change food and water habitats. This level of drought also means that air and water quality are poor, water salinity is high and river and lake levels are low.
This weekend, a low-pressure system tracking east is expected to bring substantial rain to south Florida, which will hopefully lead to drought improvements.
Along with the severe drought conditions, southwestern Florida counties are under a “Red Flag Warning” until Thursday evening. Low humidities, breezy northerly winds and dry fuels could all create dangerous fire conditions.
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