Well it looks like this winter for the first time in quite a while that I can remember, our precipitation amounts are right on target! Outlined in the table below I have compared my observations of this Winter 2007-2008, last season‘s winter 2006-2007 and compared them to the normal values observed at the closest official NWS observation site. The normal values are pulled from the National Weather Service for KTPA or Tampa International Airport (25 miles away). I was unable to locate normal values for any other site closer.
| Observed | Last Season |
Normal | Departure from Normal |
|
| ========= |
========= | ======= |
======= |
=========== |
| December | 1.94 |
2.38 |
2.30 |
-0.36 |
| January | 3.37 |
2.21 |
2.27 |
+1.10 |
| February | 2.05 |
2.32 |
2.67 |
-0.62 |
| March | 3.27 | 0.60 | 2.84 | +0.43 |
| TOTAL | 10.63 | 7.51 | 10.08 | +0.55 |
As you can see in the table above, these precipitation values outlined per month and total add up to a 0.55 inch precipitation surplus. This is great news for us for one of two different reasons. The first being that this season is actually a La Nina year, which typically results in a much drier climate for southern latitudes of the US. Secondly being that central and south Florida is currently in moderate to severe drought status.
Now that Winter has officially ended, Florida enters its two and a half month dry season. We typically get very little rain between now and the end of May. As an example last May, Treasure Island only received 0.09 inches of rain while June received 6.61 inches. Spring is also Florida‘s major wildfire season. As many of us remember last year at this time, Tampa was blanketed under extreme smoke conditions for several days, blocking out the sun and creating visibilities less than 1/2 mile in most locations.
Additionally, the NWS typically releases seasonal weather summaries, so if that occurs I will be sure to include their information in a subsequent blog posting.>
