It was a rainy Christmas day across the region, but it didn’t deter some people from being outside, like walking along the Pinellas County coastline.
In Florida, this year has been a tale of two states as far as rainfall totals, with the southeast coast deluged by sometimes-record rainfall and much of the Gulf coast facing a major precipitation deficit. Counties up and down Florida’s west side are under new water use restrictions, especially in the Cape Coral area where the water table has gotten so low that wells are threatened. Now Florida’s wettest season is over until late spring. The National Weather Service office in Miami says the main driver of the precipitation divide was a weaker than typical high pressure system this summer over the western Atlantic Ocean leading to persistently lighter easterly winds.
In Florida, this year has been a tale of two states as far as rainfall totals, with the southeast coast deluged by sometimes-record rainfall and much of the Gulf coast facing a major precipitation deficit. Counties up and down Florida’s west side are under new water use restrictions, especially in the Cape Coral area where the water table has gotten so low that wells are threatened. Now Florida’s wettest season is over until late spring. The National Weather Service office in Miami says the main driver of the precipitation divide was a weaker than typical high pressure system this summer over the western Atlantic Ocean leading to persistently lighter easterly winds.