Meterologically, the wet season is 2 months old.
Why then are the pinelands still waiting for it to begin?
 |
| The above chart shows total time (in months) that the hydric and mesic pinelands were flooded each year in Big Cypress Nat’l Preserve, 1991 to present |
Answer:
Swamp stage hasn’t risen high enough (yet) to inundate the roots of the hydric pinelands or surround the mesic pine islands with its shallow sea-like moat. On average, or at least over the past 20 years, hydric pinelands (orange) in Big Cypress National Preserve get wetted above their roots for 3-5 months per year, whereas the higher elevated mesic pines (red) get shallowly inundated for 2-4 weeks.
Not to worry.
The arrival of water peaking in the pines isn’t late yet.
 |
| This calendar graph provides you a full historical timeline of swamp stage, from 1991 to present. Peak water conditions are represented by hues of blue. |
But it isn’t early either. In 2003, the swamp rose into the hydric pines by late May and in 2005 the mountainous-by-swamp-standards mesic pines were submerged by mid June. In comparison, the last few years have been slow to peak — we have to go all the way back to 2009 to find a year when the pinelands were flooded in July.
What year had the latest pineland peak?
Answer: The year 2000 (in early September).
That gives us seven weeks.
