An update on the very dry conditions across Florida… I thought now that I moved out to Texas that the weather just quit working there in Florida. I think there has been only one event in the last 4 months that produced any severe weather at all in the Tampa area. Sorry for the text size below, if i fix the font size then the tab separated table below looses its format.

...So just how dry has it been across west central and southwestFlorida...

The typical "dry season" has turned out to be even drier thannormal across west central and southwest Florida.  We have had
numerous cold fronts move across the area, but most of these didnot produce much rainfall and left cool dry conditions in theirwake.  This has left many locations across west central andsouthwest Florida with rainfall amounts less than 50 percent of
normal for the time period of November 2008 through February 2009,as indicated in table 1.  These dry conditions have placed a fewspots in the top ten driest for this time period, as shown intable 2.

Unfortunately we are heading into what is usually one of the
driest times of the year as the storm track begins to shiftfurther north keeping most of the widespread beneficial rainfallto our north.  This leaves US with numerous fair warm dayshaving high temperatures in the 80s, along with rather dry air
with relative humidity values falling below 35 percent.  Theseconditions combined with the rainfall amounts over the last fourmonths already less than 50 percent of normal in many locationscould be setting the stage for an active fire weather season,
which usually begins in April and continues until the Summerthunderstorm season begins in late may or early June.  This isfurther supported by the keetch-Byram drought index (kbdi) whichindicates values over 500 across most of west central and
southwest Florida, with a large portion of Sumter, DeSoto andHighlands counties over 700.

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Table 1: The Table below list the November 2008 through February         2009 total rainfall in inches, the normal for this time         period and the percent of normal (based on 1971-2000         normals) at some sites across the region.

                                       Rainfall                                        total      normal   percent                                       Nov 08 to  rainfall    ofobserving site            County        Feb 09     total    normal

Chiefland 5 se            Levy            8.17     13.76      59%Bushnell 2 E              Sumter          2.63     11.15      24%Brooksville chin hill     Hernando        3.53     11.35      31%St. Leo                   Pasco           4.72     11.96      40%
Tarpon Springs swg plt    Pinellas        3.43     11.66      29%St pete/Albert whitted    Pinellas        4.38     10.27      43%Tampa Intl                Hillsborough    4.97      8.86      56%Hillsborough rvr St pk    Hillsborough    5.40     12.47      43%
Plant City                Hillsborough    5.29     10.45      51%Lakeland Linder           Polk            7.30      9.44      77%Mountain Lake             Polk            4.03      9.14      44%Winter Haven              Polk            5.18      9.62      54%
Bradenton 5 ESE           Manatee         4.55     10.40      44%Parrish                   Manatee         5.35     10.48      51%Fort Green 12 WSW         Manatee         5.29      9.41      56%Sarasota-Bradenton Intl   Manatee         4.18     10.40      40%
Wauchula 2 N              Hardee          4.24      8.98      47%Myakka River St pk        Sarasota        4.47     10.62      42%Venice                    Sarasota        4.51      9.25      49%Arcadia                   DeSoto          2.26      8.40      27%
Avon Park 2 W             Highlands       3.66      9.03      41%DeSoto city 8 SW          Highlands       3.13      8.80      36%Archbold Bio stn          Highlands       2.64      8.72      30%Punta Gorda 4 ESE         Charlotte       2.72      8.18      33%
Fort Myers/Page Field     Lee             2.73      7.62      36%

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Table 2: The Table below list the current November to February
         total rainfall in inches and what rank this is, as well         as the driest November to February and what year it         occurred.

                            Rainfall                             total                driest/      year
                           Nov 08 to              ending      recordsobserving site              Feb 09      rank       year        began

Chiefland 5 se                8.17       9th     2.51/1957     1956Bushnell 2 E                  2.63       2nd     2.22/1950     1948
Brooksville chin hill         3.53       2nd     2.16/1907     1892St. Leo                       4.72       9th     2.26/1907     1895Tarpon Springs swg plt        3.43       5th     2.20/1950     1892St pete/Albert whitted        4.38      11th     2.05/1976     1914
Tampa Intl                    4.97      22nd     1.55/1950     1890Hillsborough rvr St pk        5.40      10th     3.10/1944     1943Plant City                    5.29      18th     1.43/1907     1892Lakeland Linder               7.30      37th     1.63/1935     1915
Mountain Lake                 4.03       9th     1.80/2001     1935Winter Haven                  5.18       8th     2.78/1944     1941Bradenton 5 ESE               4.55       5th     1.55/1976     1965Parrish                       5.35       7th     1.96/1976     1957
Fort Green 12 WSW             5.29      10th     1.77/1950     1948Sarasota-Bradenton Intl       4.18       6th     1.85/1976     1948Wauchula 2 N                  4.24      15th     2.24/2001     1933Myakka River St pk            4.47       8th     2.35/1944     1943
Venice                        4.51       7th     2.59/1976     1955Arcadia                       2.26       5th     1.55/1911     1899Avon Park 2 W                 3.66      12th     0.89/1907     1901DeSoto city 8 SW              3.13       3rd     1.08/1950     1947
Archbold Bio stn              2.64       3rd     0.88/2001     1969Punta Gorda 4 ESE             2.72       3rd     1.09/2001     1965Fort Myers/Page Field         2.73    T-11th     0.45/2001     1902

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Table 3: The Table below compares the November 2007 through February         2008 and November 2008 through February 2009 total rainfall         in inches, and list the normal rainfall amount for this         time period (based on 1971-2000 normals)at some sites
         across the region.

                                       Rainfall   rainfall                                        total      total      normal                                       Nov 07 to  Nov 08 to   rain
observing site            County        Feb 08     Feb 09     total

Chiefland 5 se            Levy            9.20      8.17      13.76Bushnell 2 E              Sumter          7.20      2.63      11.15Brooksville chin hill     Hernando       10.51      3.53      11.35
St. Leo                   Pasco          10.03      4.72      11.96Tarpon Springs swg plt    Pinellas        9.04      3.43      11.66St pete/Albert whitted    Pinellas       10.28      4.38      10.27Tampa Intl                Hillsborough    8.23      4.97       8.86
Hillsborough rvr St pk    Hillsborough    8.67      5.40      12.47Plant City                Hillsborough    6.24      5.29      10.45Lakeland Linder           Polk            7.47      7.30       9.44Mountain Lake             Polk            5.77      4.03       9.14
Winter Haven              Polk            7.60      5.18       9.62Bradenton 5 ESE           Manatee         4.53      4.55      10.40Parrish                   Manatee         5.72      5.35      10.48Fort Green 12 WSW         Manatee         6.40      5.29       9.41
Sarasota-Bradenton Intl   Manatee         4.46      4.18      10.40Wauchula 2 N              Hardee          5.16      4.24       8.98Myakka River St pk        Sarasota        6.13      4.47      10.62Venice                    Sarasota        4.66      4.51       9.25
Arcadia                   DeSoto          5.51      2.26       8.40Avon Park 2 W             Highlands       3.59      3.66       9.03DeSoto city 8 SW          Highlands       3.75      3.13       8.80Archbold Bio stn          Highlands       5.08      2.64       8.72
Punta Gorda 4 ESE         Charlotte       4.03      2.72       8.18Fort Myers/Page Field     Lee             6.25      2.73       7.62

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For more climate information visit our web site at the followingaddress: http://www.Weather.Gov/tampabay  and then click on thelocal link in the climate section on the left side of the Page.
For more details about the keetch-Byram drought index (kbdi) visitthe Florida division of forestry website at the following address:http://flame.FL-dof.Com/fire_weather/kbdi/index.Html