You know it’s dry in the Big Cypress …
When the Turner River goes dry.
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Not only has that not happened this year yet, we’re not even close. River stage is smack dab in the middle of the “dry season navigable” window (i.e. green color coding). That means river flow is low but there’s still plenty of water to paddle. It isn’t until river stage drops another foot (into the orange zone) that navigability becomes difficult, and another foot below that (into the red zone) that the channel goes completely dry.
In summary: Yes, water stage is slowly dropping, but Turner River is a half foot above the long-term normal for mid March and 2 feet above deep drought mode in the swamp. That makes for good paddling for another few weeks.
