June's rains fall just shy of norm

But the showers didn't replenish the aquifer enough to alleviate the record-setting drought the region has suffered this year.

By JENNIFER FARRELL

© St. Petersburg Times, published July 4, 2000

For the first time in nearly two years, the Southwest Florida Water Management District reported that area rainfall approached a normal level last month.

According to provisional numbers, the district's northern region, which covers all of Citrus, Hernando and Sumter counties as well as parts of Levy, Marion and Pasco counties, saw an average of 7.24 inches of rain in June, compared with the norm of 7.31 inches.

"It was 99 percent of normal rainfall," Swiftmud spokesman Michael Molligan said Monday. "June is the first close-to-average rainfall month that we've had in 20 months."

From January through May, the region was about 10 inches below normal, with an average rainfall of 5 inches, compared with the usual 15 inches, said Molligan.

Last month's precipitation brought half-year averages to 12.24 inches of rainfall, or, a little more than half the norm of about 22.5 inches, Molligan said.

That's consistent with conditions throughout the Tampa Bay area, according to Richard Rude, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Ruskin.

Rude said the region is generally 8 to 10 inches below normal rainfall for the year.

Even with the June rainfall, the district's northern region is still in the throes of a record-setting drought. Molligan said the aquifer remains nearly 2.5 feet below the bottom end of the normal range.

As for how much rain it would take to solve the problem, officials say they just can't predict.

"We don't really know exactly how much rain it's going to take to get us back into normal ranges," Molligan said. "Rainfall helps, but its impact is going to depend on where it falls, how it falls and the type of rain. Is it one heavy rain or a long, slow rain? It's just really hard to gauge and say X amount of rainfall is going to mean X amount of improvement."

The water management district is monitoring drought conditions using groundwater levels, because they are typically slowest to respond, but most accurate, Molligan said.

Despite the increased rainfall in June, the region's aquifer continued to slip farther below the normal range. Molligan said water use, where the rain fell and typically high June rainfall averages could have contributed to the decline.

"We have an awful lot of ground to make up," he said. "The situation did not occur over time, and it's not going to be corrected overnight."

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