Florida Sees Rash Of Wildfires Amid “Severe Drought”

The Orlando Sentinel reports:

With less than 2 inches of rain this year, Orlando is enduring its second driest stretch from Jan. 1 to April 5 since the late 1800s and also its hottest on record for that period. The city, Central Florida and much of the state’s peninsula are experiencing a widening severe drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor, a collaboration of universities and federal environmental agencies.

The Drought Monitor is updated weekly on Thursday mornings. The newest report shows 55% of Florida under severe drought now, up from 20% at the start of this year and less than 1% last year at this time. With historic amounts of rain and snow this year in California and unrelenting drying out across Florida’s peninsula, the drought map has reversed. California now has almost no severe drought and nearly all of Florida’s peninsula is swaddled in it.

Read the full article.

Florida’s brutal drought worsens; Orlando has hottest start to year on record https://t.co/V47Wd4xcjG pic.twitter.com/VaYDWOpqwZ

— Orlando Sentinel (@orlandosentinel) April 6, 2023