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By Anna Skinner
Associate News Editor
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- Florida is currently experiencing higher levels of drought compared to California, which has been able to break its drought with a series of moisture-laden atmospheric storms.
- Extreme drought is concentrated in the southwestern corner of Florida while severe drought plagues much of the rest of the state.
- The drought situation has caused an increase in brush fires and may negatively impact crops, especially those in the citrus family.
- AccuWeather meteorologist Alex DaSilva said that the state is at only 25 to 50 percent of their average rainfall, compared to California's 150 to 300 percent.
- Florida's wet season is approaching, but the drought situation is still a cause for concern.
The U.S. Drought Monitor Map classifies Florida as suffering from more drought than California after a particularly wet season has erased most of the Golden State's drought.
California has suffered from high levels of extreme and exceptional drought for the last several years. The amount of Florida free from drought has steadily declined since October, the start of the state's dry season. As of the drought monitor's most recent map, roughly 11 percent of Florida is free from drought compared to California's 55 percent.
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The states have opposite wet seasons, with Florida approaching their wet season in May and California ending theirs in the next month. The last several years' worth of wet seasons in California hasn't been enough to lift the state out of drought, but a slew of moisture-laden atmospheric storms has greatly saturated the state. Many reservoirs are full to the point of overflow, and Governor Gavin Newsom scaled back some of the state's water restrictions last week.
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Meanwhile, Florida is beginning to feel the impacts of drought, specifically in the southern part of the state.
"Today, Florida is drier than historically mega-drought stricken California. (A winter of huge rain storms there has undone years of drought in Cali) but who'd think we'd ever be drier?" FOX meteorologist Brooks Garner tweeted on Thursday morning.
AccuWeather meteorologist Alex DaSilva told Newsweek that for the year, Florida is at only 25 to 50 percent of its average rainfall where California is at 150 to 300 percent. At the start of California's water year at the end of September, no part of the state was free from drought. Over half the state suffered from extreme or exceptional drought, a condition that has improved immensely the last few months.
As of the most recent map from the U.S. Drought Monitor—updated March 30—4.5 percent of Florida is classified under the "extreme drought" category, concentrated in the state's southwestern corner. Although the state's wet season is approaching, DaSilva said there is concern about the level of drought.
Extreme drought is defined as having an extreme fire danger, an increase in fire restrictions, and increased mosquitoes. Severe drought, or when pastures begin to dry and burn bans are implemented because of an elevated fire danger, plagues 43 percent of the state, including much of central and southern Florida. Drought lessens further north in the state. The northern third of Florida is either free from drought, classified as moderate drought, or classified as abnormally dry.
"Due to the drought situation, there's also going to be a risk for wildfire activity," DaSilva told Newsweek. "There have already been several brush fires across the Florida peninsula here over the last several weeks due to the drying conditions."
In the southern part of the state, DaSilva said the drought might start to negatively impact crops. The worst impacted crops could be those in the citrus family.
DaSilva said if the drought continues, other crops grown across Florida may be impacted as well.
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