Drought has consumed Peninsular Florida from the Cape to the Keys with conditions so parched in West Palm Beach the city is tapping its supplemental wells to keep faucets flowing.
Despite much of the state entering the rainy season in mid-May, including South Florida, a report released Thursday shows about 11 million residents living in areas considered abnormally dry to “severe drought” — the third highest ranking in a five-tier scale that measures arid conditions.
Up to a 60% chance of rain is forecast this weekend in parts of Palm Beach County with bouts of heavier rainfall possible early next week as a potential tropical disturbance teases in the northwestern Caribbean.
The National Hurricane Center had not identified an area of concern as of Thursday afternoon, but the National Weather Service in Miami and AccuWeather pointed to a deep dip in the jet stream as a possible source for something to spin up.
“This potential system needs to be taken with a grain of salt for now,” Miami-based NWS meteorologists wrote in their forecast.
With the far northern, southern and western reaches of Palm Beach County listed Thursday as in severe drought by the US Drought Monitor, any rain will be welcome, said NWS Miami meteorologist Chuck Caracozza.
“It’s been a dry start to the rainy season,” Caracozza said. “We will get some much-needed rainfall in the weekend. It’s just a matter of how widespread that rain is and where exactly it falls.”
Ad-libbed system doesn’t cut it anymore: Because of growth and a fear of contaminants, West Palm considering a new way to get water
The wet season officially runs May 15 through Oct. 15 for the seven counties overseen by the Miami NWS office. Those include Miami-Dade, Monroe, Broward, Collier, Palm Beach, Glades and Hendry. Other NWS offices, and South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD), don’t set official rainy season dates, preferring to use dew point temperatures and an established pattern of rainfall to determine, in hindsight, when the rainy season started.
“The month of May dried up and so far, this month we haven’t had that much rain either,” said district Chief Engineer John Mitnik during a governing board meeting Thursday. “The past two months, both of them, were a deficit.”
Last month was the 5th driest May since 1991 for the 16-county region from Orlando to the Keys covered by the district, Mitnik said.
It was the 9th driest May since 1932.
The dry conditions triggered West Palm Beach to fire up its supplemental wells to provide water for its 130,000 customers, which include residents of Palm Beach and South Palm Beach. West Palm Beach’s main water supply is surface water from Clear Lake west of downtown West Palm Beach and Grassy Waters Preserve.
Digging deep for clean water: West Palm Beach hopes to tap Floridan Aquifer for water source as population grows
On Wednesday, city officials announced they were taking 10 million gallons a day from supplemental wells that draw from the surficial aquifer.
They “urgently” reminded customers to adhere to year-round landscape irrigation rules, which allow watering three days per week. Watering between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. is prohibited.
“It’s crucial to remember that watering lawns is a major contributor to water waste, with nearly half of residential water use dedicated to irrigation,” the city announcement said.
West Palm Beach has asked the SFWMD for permission to dig deeper wells that would draw from the brackish water of the Floridan aquifer and provide a stable water supply that isn’t as vulnerable to weather conditions and pollutants.
The weekend rain will also come with southerly winds toting abnormal heat. Temperatures for West Palm Beach are expected to be in the mid-90s Friday through at least Monday with heat index or “feels like” temperatures hitting up to 109 degrees.
Todd Kimberlain, lead meteorologist for the SFWMD, said whether a tropical system develops or not, the shift to a rainier wet season next week will be significant.
“The weather pattern is going to change here pretty drastically,” he said. “The winds are going to turn south and southwest and allow a lot of deep moisture come in.”
Kimberly Miller is a journalist for The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA Today Network of Florida. She covers real estate and how growth affects South Florida’s environment. Subscribe to The Dirt for a weekly real estate roundup. If you have news tips, please send them to kmiller@pbpost.com. Help support our local journalism, subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Rainy season in Florida is delayed but possible tropical system may change that
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