Florida Drought 2008, Lake Okeechobee Water Levels

Lake Okeechobee Drought Conditions Continue

Lake Okeechobee Florida Pier Drought 2008 Over the last week or so the heavy rains have pretty much stayed well to our north over the Deep South and Northern Gulf coast. A western Atlantic ridge is helping to keep any cold fronts from diving too deep into Florida, and this includes any associated precipitation with the fronts. We have had more rain this dry season than last years, but were still well below normal in the current water levels in Lake Okeechobee and surrounding waterway canals. In this picture, you can see the northern Lake Okeechobee pier remains high and dry from the current ongoing drought conditions. This use to be about 3-4 foot deep water all the way up to where I’m standing to take this shot. Impressive low-water levels continue in the lake and they continue to slowly drop.

South Florida Water Management report that the lake levels are down to 10.07FT as of January 31, 2008. This has likely dropped to 10ft or below now, and they have had to closer the Kissimmee River lock due to dangerous low water levels and boating hazards. Normal Lake Okeechobee water levels are near 14 feet, and they have not been this high since mid 2006. The rainy season of 2007 was well below normal rainfall wise in and around the Lake Okeechobee region, while coastal locations on both Florida coasts saw decent rainfall.

Filmmaking The Florida Drought 2007-2008

Over the last 14 months I have been filming the ongoing drought in Florida, and plan to put together a short film in the future of the scenes. I have filmed everything from low-levels in the Florida Everglades, Lake Okeechobee, dry soil conditions, extreme wildfires, damage to palm tree farms and Sugarcane, and the effects it has had on local residents and strict water restrictions and landscaping. It has also hard hit the tourist industry with boating on area lakes and rivers and fresh water fishing.

I’ll likely continue to film through the remainder of the 2008 dry and wildfire season, as the drought conditions are likely to get a little worst before better this spring. Who knows what this seasons wildfires will bring, so there are a few more months left to film. I’ll try and script and edit out this short film by the fall of this year. I have about 13 Mini DV tapes of raw Florida drought footage to view and edit through, so it’s going to take some time.

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