TAMPA, Florida — With the summer heat in full force, the U.S. Drought Monitor shows 22.7 percent of the U.S. is being covered by moderate to exceptional drought.
With this number being an increase from last week's 21.6 percent, Florida specifically can feel it.
In the Tampa Bay area, extreme drought climbed by 4 percent from the week before. Surrounding cities are seeing moderate drought while others show a decrease in percentage.
The U.S. Drought Monitor explains some historic impacts seen with the level of drought including things like:
- Fire danger is extreme; fire restrictions increase
- Fish kills occur; toxic algae blooms appear
- Nesting bird populations grow with increased nesting area; mosquitoes increase
- Saltwater species replace freshwater species; sea intrusion
- Air and water quality are poor; water salinity is high; river and lake levels are low
- Bears and snakes change food and water habitats
- Large increase of wildfire abundance; fire danger is elevated; burn bans are implemented
- Lawns and landscapes go dormant
Here in Florida, most of our rainfall happens during our summer months — that hasn't been the case this year. It's been so dry that many of our coastal counties are in severe drought from Pinellas County down south.
The normal cooling thunderstorms we see in the afternoon have been replaced with an extra hot steambath that has included higher dewpoints or humidity.
Those factors, when combined with temperatures, make it feel like the triple digits for several hours every day by late morning lingering into the early evening.
The extra thick air bringing those suffocating heat index values is related to why it's been so dry. It's all about the west wind and it's not our friend when it comes to breaking out of this drought. The westerly flow or "steering flow" is coming in off the super-heated water making us feel like we live in a sauna.
The good news is this pattern will likely break down in August and September as the tropical influence of cyclones and peak water temperatures help to change and break down the pattern.
10 Tampa Bay's Mike Prangley contributed to this report.
