Drought and the Dry Season

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When it comes to weather in Florida, normally it is dominated by sunny tropical weather, but we have a very diverse climate. One significant aspect of Florida’s weather patterns that demands attention is the dry season, which occurs from October to May. This period can lead to drought conditions, and it’s important to recognize the contributing factors. According to the Florida Climate Center, records show that every decade since the year 1900, there has been at least one severe and widespread drought somewhere in the state of Florida.

Drought conditions in Florida can arise from various factors. An extended dry season often leaves the region drier than normal, directly contributing to drought. Climate patterns like El Niño and, especially, La Niña play a pivotal role in influencing rainfall, leading to even drier conditions.

The Lake Worth Drainage District plays a vital role in managing water resources for about half of Palm Beach County’s population. It is responsible for water supply protection, flood control, and promoting water conservation. By maintaining canal water levels, the Lake Worth Drainage District effectively combats the risk of saltwater intrusion into freshwater wells. However, we must understand that drought conditions hinder these efforts and can lead to significant consequences. As stated by Tommy Strowd, Executive Director of the Lake Worth Drainage District, the impacts can be long-lasting. Local fire departments may struggle to access adequate water for firefighting, high-rise condominiums could experience decreased water pressure, landscaping in golf courses and residential areas could be impacted, community lakes might dry up, and farmers could face substantial challenges in irrigating their crops.

As residents, we must take proactive steps to support water conservation during the dry season. Start by educating yourself, we must spread the word about sustainable water practices. Engage your neighbors and community in discussions about responsible water use. Adhere to the guidelines established by local water management districts and respect the irrigation schedules set by many Florida counties to prevent overuse. There are numerous strategies to conserve water. Visit www.lwdd.net/managing-water/water-supply to discover more about the dry season and effective water conservation techniques.

Your Questions Answered

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Q. My community lake is very low, can you fill it up?

A. During the dry season, which runs from approximately October to May, it is expected that ponds will have a lower water elevation which may expose sandy banks and reduce the ability to utilize the pond for lawn irrigation. Since rainfall is the primary way stormwater ponds receive their water supply, and water from the LWDD canal system cannot be used to recharge ponds, these conditions will continue until additional rainfall occurs.

Your Questions Answered

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Q. I live adjacent to an LWDD canal and want to install a boat dock. Do I need a permit?

A. Property owners who desire to connect to, place structures in or across, or make use of the District’s canal rights-of-way must submit the appropriate permit application. Staff will review individual applications to ensure projects meet the criteria set forth in the District’s Operating Policies and do not interfere with District access, operations or maintenance activities. Some permit applications may require additional approval by the District’s Board of Supervisors. Contact us at info@lwdd.net with your permitting questions or if you are unsure as to whether a permit is required for your project.

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Executive Director’s Annual Report to Landowners

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Executive Director Tommy Strowd, P.E. presented the Annual Report at the Landowners meeting. Director Strowd highlighted the district’s achievements in 2023 and discussed the goals for 2024. Presentation can be found at www.lwdd.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/2024ReportToLandowners_Strowd_20230110.pdf

Lake Okeechobee Drought 2007

Droughts Self-propagate, Just Like Wildfires

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Excerpt from Ghent University on the Phys.org website

Up to 30% of the rainfall deficit can be caused by “drought self-propagation,” the DRY–2–DRY European Research Council (ERC) project shows.

Unlike other weather extremes such as hurricanes or winter storms, droughts affect humans in most climatic zones around the world; from the arid steppes of the Sahel to the humid rainforests of Amazonia. Moreover, droughts are expected to intensify in many regions following global warming. The United Nations has recently described drought as “the next pandemic,” suggesting that the associated risks are currently overlooked. It is thus crucial to improve our understanding of drought, and particularly its causes, in order to be able to predict its future risk and enable adequate societal adaptation.

Rainfall deficits eventually manifest as dry soils. The land surface, though, also takes a very active role in the generation of rainfall, as it supplies moisture to the atmosphere through evaporation. What happens during a soil drought when far less water is evaporated than usual? It has been hypothesized that this can enable droughts to expand by themselves, as they provide less moisture for precipitation, not just locally, but also downwind. Until now, evidence of this drought self-propagation, fueled by the drying soils, had remained elusive. In a new study, published in Nature Geoscience, led by the Hydro-Climate Extremes Lab (H-CEL) at Ghent University (Belgium), this evidence is provided for the first time.

The authors analyzed the largest 40 droughts in recent history. For each event, the authors tracked the air over the drought regions as the drought area expanded. This allowed them to compute how much of the downwind rainfall deficits were caused by the upwind drying of the soils. Their conclusion was that in individual months, up to 30% of the rainfall deficit can be caused by this drought self-propagation. As Dominik Schumacher, first author of the study, states: “In essence, droughts behave similarly to wildfires: while fires propagate downwind by igniting more and more ‘fuel’ in their surroundings, droughts do so by reducing their own rainfall supply through the drying of the land surface.”

The authors find the strongest self-propagation in subtropical drylands, such as in Australia and Southern Africa—in these regions, the limiting effect of low soil moisture on evaporation is strongest. By definition, water is already scarce in drylands, yet these regions sustain a considerable fraction of the global human population and are also used extensively for farming.

Therefore, as drylands are projected to expand in light of climate change, the self-propagating character of droughts may lead to even larger and more rapidly evolving events in the future, and further exacerbate water scarcity as well as the attached socioeconomic and environmental consequences.

To find out more about current and historical droughts in Florida visit www.drought.gov/states/florida

Graph of drought in Florida from 2000 to present