The numbers are (almost) in for Water Year 2021:
The Big Cypress received 43 inches of wet season rain and 14 inches of dry season rain, or a 75/25 percent split between the two seasons, for a grand water year total of 57 inches of rain.
Despite the more bountiful summer rains, it was the dry season rains (and specifically November, and even more specifically one storm – Eta) that put the Big Cypress in the “above normal” range for Water Year 2021.
As you can see in the chart below, even the “above average” dry season had a significant rainless spell from January through March (i.e. the red slashes). And who’s to say we’re out of the dry season yet:
A dry May could yet drop the swamp to deep drought
My takehome point:
Yes, wet and dry seasons are the predominant meteorological pattern in south Florida, but periods of wetness and dryness exist in each one, and all it takes is one storm or one rainless stretch to tilt the balance toward either extreme.
