Floridians thankful for dodging major tropical storms the past two years may find that they have paid a heavy price: a severe drought that has left the state primed for an explosive wildfire season.
"It was an unusually dry summer," Florida Lieutenant Governor Jeff Kottkamp told National Geographic News.
"We're grateful that we were not hit by a hurricane, but a few slow-moving tropical storms with a lot of rain would have been nice."
(Related: "2007 Hurricane Season Ending Raises Forecast Concerns" [November 30, 2007].)
The drought has caused giant Lake Okeechobee to recede so much that in some places grass that is normally underwater has dried out and caught fire, said Ronda Sutphen, fire prevention officer for Florida's Division of Forestry.
The severe wildfire threat will last until at least the summer of 2008, she added.
"The conditions are ripe for us to have a very bad fire season," Sutphen said.
Drought and Arson
Florida's subtropical climate averages about 54 inches (137 centimeters) of rain a year—most of it during the summer—said state meteorologist Ben Nelson in Tallahassee.
Tropical weather systems provide as much as 10 percent of that annual total.
Florida was battered by two stormy summers in 2004 and 2005, but tropical storms have mostly avoided the state since then.
During these relatively quiet summers, the state received only about 43 inches (109 centimeters) of rain in 2006, and only about 42 inches (107 centimeters) this year, Nelson said. Those totals are among the lowest since 1895.
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