South Florida on the road to another drought?

If rainfall for the month of March in Fort Lauderdale is any indicator, we may well be. That Broward County city recorded only 0.3 inches for the entire month a new record low. The old record was 0.7 in 1974.

All of South Florida has seen low rainfall for 2006. Still Lake Okeechobee remains full, and no one is concerned at present. Things could change but it will take a couple of year. The Lake is the fresh water supply for most of this region, and as recently as 2004 the lake was at seriously low levels. When this happens, water restrictions are put into effect. This has happened twice at least since I began residing in Lantana in 1989. We seem to go through periods of abundance followed by drought. I guess its all one of mother nature's cycle.

Lake Okeechobee watching- Just another one of South Florida's pasttimes.

Open Post- Bright & Early, Uncooperative Blogger, Is it Just me?,

So much for umbrellas.

Fort Lauderdale saw its driest March on record -- only .03 inches of rain fell, according to the National Weather Service in Miami. That beat the previous record of .07 inches, set in 1945.

Indeed, all of South Florida has been parched so far this year, with Palm Beach County being the driest area, almost 4 inches below the 9.86 inches that usually fall in the first three months.

The short-term forecast calls for a sunny weekend with the first chance of rain on Monday. The long-term outlook calls for a drier than normal spring throughout Florida, the weather service said.

As far as Ernie's Bar BQ in Fort Lauderdale is concerned, the dry skies can stick around all year. The restaurant, on Federal Highway, has seen bustling business in the past month, particularly on its upstairs, outdoor patio, said bartender Pat Hall.

"We've been busy downstairs, but upstairs, we've been extremely busy," she said.

It's not like this region is in a drought; underground aquifers and Lake Okeechobee levels remain healthy. Yet tinderbox conditions have helped spark several brush fires in Miami-Dade County; five were burning on Friday alone, said Florida Division of Forestry Duty Officer Suzanne Ethridge.

"Everything is dry," she said. "But we don't know what started the fires. It could have been ATVs, smoking or campfires."

On the other hand, the dry weather has been good for vegetable growers, said Darren Parmenter, agricultural agent with the Palm Beach County Cooperative Extension Service.

"A lot of rain and moisture are good conditions for [agricultural] disease transmission and fun stuff like that," he said.

Blame the dearth of rain on a weak La Niña, a cooling condition of the Eastern Pacific Ocean that acts to dry out the atmosphere, said meteorologist Robert Molleda.

"Most of the fronts that have come through have had little or no rainfall," he said.

Molleda said there is no evidence a dry March might mean a more active than normal hurricane season. Yet La Niña is known to foster hurricane development.

That Fort Lauderdale received so little rain was "random luck," Molleda said. On March 22, the only day significant rain fell during the month, Palm Beach County received almost 2 inches of rain and Miami saw more than an inch.

"If that rain had been just a little farther to the south, Fort Lauderdale wouldn't have broken a record," he said.