JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – While cold has been the big story over the past few weeks, another big story continues to unfold. Drought conditions continue to worsen across Southeast Georgia and Northeast Florida.
The latest drought monitor highlights the worsening conditions across our area.
A large portion of our area is under a “severe” drought and a new area of “extreme” drought conditions has been introduced across several of our Florida counties. This is especially noticed across Columbia, Union and Bradford Counties.
Since the early end to wet season in late August through early February (August 25th through February 1st), Jacksonville International Airport has only received 8.80″ of rain. This makes it the second driest stretch on record since 1871.
Normal rainfall for this time period is 20.92″. That means we are running over a foot of rain below normal.
Our next chance for rain will come with the passage of a front late Wednesday into early Thursday. Rainfall accumulation under a tenth of an inch is possible, but not enough to put a dent in the drought.