A summer wet season and a winter dry one, the latter of which has been drier than normal.
(The result was an earlier than normal “dry down.” Our lowest-lying marshes, sloughs, and strands went dry by late February, leaving only isolated pockets of water in our dry-season refugia pools.)
But that bi-modal categorization misses the pivotal role that spring plays in our seasonal drought.
We’re now seeing those effects in full bloom:
Waxing daylight hours, hotter temperatures, a surge in plant transpiration, and often gusty desiccating winds.
Isolated showers quickly soak in, and within days its back to being as dry as it was before. (Don’t get me wrong – we’ll take any rain we can get!)
The winter “dry down” is all but passé; the spring “dry out” is the new concern.
That’s because in south Florida spring is not wildflower season, it’s wildfire season:
All it takes is a lighting strike from one of those isolated showers.
12 comments:
I remember when we had our big drought in 2008... We appreciated ANY rain we got---even though there was usually not enough to make a dent!!!!!!
Betsy
That's a real big concern. I hope there will be no wildfire this year. Still, I'm aware that the spring "dry out" is a very vulnerable condition. We have only two season here in Indonesia, the dry season and wet season. But I think that the occurrence becomes more and more unpredictable. Their time schedule seems to be changing a lot.
I really like that last shot - the one, lonely, isolated flower among all that grass.
We welcome and dread the rain during wildfire season here. The more rain, the more growth and the more fuel for fire...and of course more lightning strikes.
May you have an uneventful season.
Hope that "rainy" season is not too far off. My sister is a mail carrier in Loxahatchee with all dirt roads. She would love to see the dust settled.
D is on fire weather reporting as I write ... he started on Thursday.
Even though we had a big snow pack this year, the earth seemed to soak it straight in with little run off. The lake has barely come up. Unless we get a lot of spring and summer rains, the lake will probably drop to new lows.
Fire weather already? The big problem at this time of year are grass fires. People set them and they get away on them. D forecast too high a winds for burning on the weekend but they did a burn anyway (industry burn) ... and it got away on them! Go figure.
They also spend a lot of time setting up the reporting stations at this time, making sure everything is working tickety boo.
Oh, and they do forecasts for spraying for spruce bug etc.
That's weathr in our neck of the woods.
I really like that wildflower! But not the wildfires we get every year! We did get a little rain here last week... Yea:)
I love the picture of the solitary wildflower! Very beautiful :)
Thanks for your comments.
That's a great point about the spring rains Lily -- they add fuel to the fire when dry conditions resume. We've seen that in years past.
Rob: Last year and the start of this year we have had more then our share of water, rain/snow. I guess Lake Erie has a lot to do with the snow but the Gulf brings a lot of rain from the South.
Cavs in 6 games over the Lakers.
The sky in your second photo sure looks beautiful, but I hope you soon see some clouds and rain.
Your last photo with the wildflower is strikingly beautiful.
May we all get the right amounts of rain and sun!
Post a Comment