Lake Wales Region Officially in "Drought" Conditions

The Lake Wales region is now officially in a drought status after conditions here worsened during the past week. Excessive heat during April and May have increased stress on agriculture and native landscapes.

Courtesy National Integrated Drought Information System

The drought outlook shows the area remaining in a drought condition through June.

According to the official U.S. Drought Monitor, conditions here worsened from Abnormally Dry (D0) to Moderate Drought (D1), according to this week's U.S. Drought Monitor. The Climate Prediction Center's May Drought Outlook released on April 30, 2024, had predicted that drought conditions would likely develop in May.

The drought map and forecasts are published by the National Integrated Drought Information System, a service of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Lake Wales has now officially been in drought for only the past week, since May 21, 2024, after records showed only a few light showers passed over the area. during that time frame. The forecast for the next 30 days holds little hope of relief despite the start of the Hurricane season, when much of the annual rainfall arrives here. Normal rainfall for the area is about 52 inches annually.

National Integrated Drought Information System

Sparse rainfall has been recorded over the area during the month of May, totalling less than one inch, while high temperatures have baked the landscape.

Florida's summer rains are normally powered by an Atlantic high-pressure system whose clockwise winds sweep moisture from the tropics over the state, resulting in a daily thunderstorm regime enhanced by sea breezes from the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico colliding over the center of the state. So far the rains over the state have been generated primarily by decaying fronts pushing southward over the state.