Weather, Storms & Hurricane Blog

Florida Drought 2008, Lake Okeechobee Water Levels

Jeff Gammons — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 14:54:24 +0000

Lake Okeechobee Drought Conditions Continue

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.

Related Florida Drought Posts:

Florida Storms, San Diego Firestorm, Fire Tornado

Jeff Gammons — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 10:49:34 +0000

Florida Expected Storms This Afternoon - Monitoring

Weakening cold front boundary moving in on the Florida west coast early this morning and is expected to enhance the thunderstorm chances later today. Could be a few stronger storms with better heating over southern Florida as the weak boundary slowly drifts east-southeast. The possible much cooler and drier air mass that I spoke of a few days ago, does not look like it’s fully going to develop as the front is washing out and we should remain in the deeper moisture pool through the weekend.

I’m hoping for some mid fall storm chasing later today if we can get some decent isolated storms to develop ahead of the cold front, and along any coastal east coast boundaries. Nothing Supercell in nature or tornadoes today expected, but maybe some short-lived pulse storms and lightning would be plenty for me today. Those dull convective lacking winter days are nearing, so anything storm-wise I will truly appreciate.

Successful Discovery Space Shuttle Launch

Well, the weather held up for yesterdays successful shuttle launch, so I missed out on the perfect launch as I was in Miami for much of the day. I plan to attend the next one Space Shuttle Launch that is planned for December 6^th, 2007. More to come on this next month. (See all my Shuttle Launches)

Intense California Wildfires Around San Diego Continue

The fire pictures and video coming in hourly from San Diego, CA, is just impressive to see how bad the fires have developed. The destruction is widespread with hundreds and hundreds of home destroyed from the fast moving ground fires. There has been some interesting large fire tornado scenes, with fire vortex’s from the intense heat and winds. There is no end in sight in the near term as the winds remain elevated and the dry ground conditions are plenty to fuel the fire storms across much of southern California.

Drought has been very severe in Southern California the last few years, and 2007 has been extreme with little rain at all. Drought is pounding much of the Southwest and Southeastern Untied States this year, with Georgia’s worst water issues in decades hitting cities like Atlanta. Florida is known for it’s drought this year, and Lake Okeechobee is lower than this time last year, and were now heading into our winter dry season well below normal. NOAA winter forecast shows a dry winter with below precipitation over the south, extending the drought conditions into next spring. We could easily see wildfire situations like we did this past spring over the South and Florida, return in Spring 2008.

Drought, wildfires and water restrictions could be in the headlines for awhile this upcoming winter if these trends continue.

Florida Needs A Hurricane Right About Now 2, Really!

Jeff Gammons — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 13:10:27 +0000

What Did He Say?

Back in April I posted a article on “Florida Needs A Hurricane Right About Now” as the Florida drought of 2007 was just starting to really get established. It’s now late August and Florida needs a slow moving tropical storm or weak hurricane more than ever. Our drought continues even through the normal rainy season. This years rain season has remained below normal over many area’s. Some locations along the east coast have had a some what decent rain season, but many interior locations still remain well below normal, especially around Lake Okeechobee, the main backup water source for Miami, Ft Lauderdale and West Palm Beach.

Your Crazy MAN!

I know I’ll likely receive a few nasty emails for saying Florida needs a tropical system, like I did the first time around back in April, but it’s really needed as we head for the fall season. Lake Okeechobee this morning is at 9.56 feet, this time last year the lake level was at 11.99 feet. The safe normal lake level is around 13-14 feet. With the end of the rain season not too far off with the fall season maybe 6-8 weeks away, we are way below normal for rainfall for the year and Lake Okeechobee still remains severely below normal.

Tropical Systems Are Part of The Florida Rain Season

A decent tropical storm or very weak hurricane could bring 10+ inches of rain over a few days and this would help significantly in getting water levels higher before the dry season. If we don’t receive some large amounts of rain before late September / early October, were going to be in trouble this winter. If we go into the fall and winter season well below what we were this time last year, the dry season is going to be a rough one. The water restriction in South Florida that many saw this year will only continue and become even more severely restricted, and the wildfires will only be more widespread next spring.

Water resource models developed by the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) based on 41 years of hydrologic data indicate an increased probability that South Florida residents will face a continued regional water shortage through November, which is the beginning of the next dry season. Unless the remainder of the wet season brings sufficient rainfall to replenish Lake Okeechobee, which hit record lows this summer, the SFWMD would experience back-to-back water shortage years for the first time since the early 1980s. SFWMD

Thunderstorm Season Not Very Active

I should be chasing daily lightning storms still this time of year, and the last 10 days has been very dry, especially after Hurricane Dean has moved through the Caribbean. What rains have fallen, have been isolated and short-lived. You know it’s dry in Florida during July and August when you only need to cut your lawn ever other week, when normally you almost need to cut it twice a week. I really fear this dry season unless we get some impressive rains soon. If we only could pipeline some of the Midwest and Plains flooding from the last few weeks, southward into Florida. I’m watching severe flooding from Ohio this morning on TV, while my range bucket has not recorded rain now for 12 days, with 90sF temperatures every afternoon baking the ground even more dry.

Bring On The Heavy Rains, Please!

So, next time you see a developing tropical system close to Florida, cheer it on to bring some heavy tropical rains over a few days. I don’t wish devastating hurricanes to strike Florida like in 2004 and 2005, but a weak storm could moderately fix our drought problems now, and give Florida a little cushion during the dry season. Tropical waves, disturbances and cyclones are part of our annual rainfall totals here in Florida, so we need them.

I’ll update on this again towards the beginning of fall, or if we are affected by a tropical system first.

Related Florida Drought Posts:

Taylor Creek, Okeechobee Brushfire Video

Jeff Gammons — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 21:13:11 +0000

Kersten and I were just hanging around the house having a lazy Saturday, when I looked out the back kitchen window to see a large plume of dark black smoke. I first thought maybe there was a house or structure on fire with all the thick black smoke. So, Kersten and I jumped into the car and headed for the fire scene. I already had my camera gear on standby for possible storms today, so I was all set. Once we were in sight of the fire I could see that it was a large brush fire moving kind of fast in the breezy conditions.

The fire was behind the Pier II Motel along S.R 98 /411 and along the Lake Okeechobee rim. The fire was burning in dried up marsh and saw grass, that looked extremely dry from the current Florida drought. Firefighters were just pulling in behind me as I was setting up my video camera and tripod. They quickly setup to protect a lakeside structure in the back of the motel that looked to be direct in the path of the brushfire. Luckily after about 15 minutes the fire hit a natural green vegetation fire line and settled down some. Firefighters looked to have the situation under control and started to put out the remaining hot spots.

As how the fire started I’m not sure at all as of this post, but at one point during the fire, a man walked up and said something about…

“They have a fire permit to burn off the old brush, but looks like it jumped out of the contained area”.

I’m not sure if this is true or not, or really at all how the brushfire started, but if this is true, how in the heck can you get a fire permit in the middle of the current drought were in? To my understanding we are currently in phase 3 water restrictions along with a burn ban. I know we have received some rains over the last two weeks, but it’s still extremely dry out there. It was breezy as well early this afternoon (2pm) and with all the dry drought conditions, it would of not been the best time to burn off old brush, or have any type of burning taking place. This could of turned out much worst if the fire reached the motel or any other structures not far down wind of the fire.

Anyways - that’s my little update on this brushfire and included video. If I find out anymore on this event, I’ll edit and include it to this post.

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Florida Drought Reaches Historic Levels, Pictures

Jeff Gammons — Thu, 31 May 2007 12:15:11 +0000

Were down to one day away from the start of the 2007 Atlantic Hurricane season here in Florida, but Florida is already dealing with a severe weather event. Today the drought in Florida reaches historic levels as the main backup fresh water source of Lake Okeechobee drops to the lowest levels every recorded. South Florida Water Management District expected the water level to drop below the record of 8.97 feet (2.73 meters) later today. The average water level this time of year in the second-largest freshwater lake in the United States should be around 13 feet (4 meters). 5 million people in South Florida depend on the lake for water and soon there will be little to pull as the drought continues.

Over the last few months I have traveled all around the lake shooting video and photo updates as the lake waters continued to recede as the severe Florida drought took it’s toll on the lake. In this series of drought pictures of Lake Okeechobee, I have added a photo from last January, one from April and another from May. You can clearly see how fast the water level is dropping in area’s of the lake. Some locations once deep water are now open grasslands with hard compact dried up muck where you can walk a quarter mile on the lake before reaching water.

The surrounding waterways that lead in and out of the lake are drying up as well. The boat waterways of Taylor Creek in Okeechobee City are at the lowest levels every seen in some locations. Residents boats just sit on dry canal bottom as all the water is gone. Alligators hunt for deeper water, while other wildlife searches for water as well. This is not the normal lush, wetlands of tropical Florida, it’s more like west Texas.

This is becoming the worst Florida drought known since keeping records and it’s going to take a lot more than just the rainy season and maybe a tropical system to help this serious drought situation. Dozens of wildfires burn across the state with very dry ground conditions, low moisture, and gusty winds. There is now a fire burning in Lake Okeechobee that has been out of control the last three days. The Frog Light Fire is burning dry lake bottom and grass and has already burned over 12,000 acres.

I will continue to cover the drought and fire conditions as we move into June. There is rain on the horizon and it’s going to take several wet seasons to get Florida back to it’s lush tropical self. I will be adding a video tour of the lake and south Florida next week concerning the drought of 2007, so be sure to check back for the latest updates.

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Lake Okeechobee, Buckhead Wildfire, Video & Photos

Jeff Gammons — Tue, 29 May 2007 23:46:35 +0000

Just returned a few hours ago from filming the Buckhead Ridge / Lake Okeechobee Florida wildfire, also known as the “Frog Light Fire” located along the northwestern shore of Lake Okeechobee in Glades County. I first shot photos of this fire very early this morning from a distance, and during the pre-dawn hours. You can see the large fire glow and smoke rising into the dark sky in the post below. Later in the day, I returned to the wildfire scene to find that the fire spread west several miles since this morning and now the winds were kicking from the east-southeast at 15-20mph.

I was allowed to get up close and personal with the fire and film the fire line as firefighters worked their magic as the fire continued to burn westward. By 1:00pm the northern Lake breeze really kicked in, flaring the fire up and smoke. There were a few times the fire jumped around in the strong winds and I had to move back and west more to stay clear of the falling hot ashes and thick black smoke.

The fire is burning in a area within the Lake Okeechobee levee system. Extremely dry brush, tree’s and grass on the lake bottom that is void of any water due to the severe drought, was raging in flames overnight and all day today.

From the Florida Department of Forestry:

Frog Light Fire-

This wildfire started on May 28th and is burning in heavy grass in the dry lake bed of Lake Okeechobee near the Buckhead Ridge access road in Glades County. Due to the inaccessible terrain firefighting crews will burn out fuels ahead of the fire today. No structures are threatened at this time. Cause: incendiary.

There are other Florida wildfires that have started in the last 24 hours. There are reports of a wildfire out of control in the Melbourne area, in Brevard County. The state of Florida is severely dry and drought conditions continue to get worst each day. There is some hope on the horizon, as weather forecast computer models are forecasting a increase in moisture and heavy rainfall as we move into the weekend. Lets all hope the models are right about this forecast.

I will have another Florida drought 2007 update with photos and video very soon, so be sure to check back in the coming days.

Related Florida Wildfire & Drought Posts:

Florida & Georgia Wildfires, Smoke Over Takes Florida

Jeff Gammons — Sat, 12 May 2007 13:32:42 +0000

The Southern Georgia and northern Florida wildfires have made the last 48 hours over Florida extremely Smokey. As seen in the included visible satellite image, you can see how bad the smoke was on Friday coming down the Gulf coast side of the state and then turning into South Florida. The smoke plume from the Georgia wildfires is huge, and only added to the smoke and haze issues over the southern part of the state where smoke was already in place from wildfires in Lee county, outside of Ft Myers.

The very large wildfires near Starke and Lake City Florida, have grown into massive wildfires out of control. Over 350 sq miles have burned now, and the fires have cause evacuations of 100s in the area, and is affecting parts of I-10 and I-75. Several homes in the area of Little Lake Sante Fe west of Keystone Heights were evacuated as officials continued to fight windswept wildfires in nearby Bradford and Alachua counties.

Here is a list of the large fires that are ongoing as of last nights report:

Bugaboo Fire located in Baker County, FL. Acres Burned: 82,000 / 0-10% contained.
Dairy Road Fire located in Bradford County, FL. Acres Burned: 15,906 / 35% contained.
Balsa Fire located in Collier County, FL. Acres Burned: 18,027 / 90% contained.
WF Airport Road Fire Flagler County, FL. Acres Burned: 6,800 / 60% contained.
Red Oak Fire located in Lake County, FL. Acres Burned: 881 / 95% contained.
Lee Fire located in Lake County, FL. Acres Burned: 2,551 / 50% contained.
Blackcreek Command Fire Walton County, FL. Acres Burned: 1,035 / 80% contained.
Middle of Nowhere Fire, located in Charlotte County, FL. Acres Burned: 4,000 / 65% contained.

From the Florida Department of Forestry…

The Bugaboo Fire originated on Bugaboo Island in the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge. The fire ran south to the Florida state line on Tuesday morning (5/8/2007) and crossed in to Florida in the Baker County area. The fire has been burning on the Osceola National Forest and the John Bethea State Forest and tripled in size overnight (May 10th) as it moved toward Highway 441 and Interstate Highway 10. Mandatory evacuations have been ordered along both sides of Highway 441 from Interstate Highway 10 to the Florida state line. Bugaboo is being managed in unified command with the U.S Forest Service Blue Incident Management Team.

The Florida wildfires are expected to continue through the weekend, and continue to send heavy thick smoke down the spin of Florida. Rain chances increase on Sunday and Monday, as a back door cold front moves into the area, but the severe drought conditions will take more than a day or two of rain to help the wildfire situation. Isolated lightning storms help with rain, but also bring on more fires from the cloud-to-ground lightning. Subtropical Storm Andrea would have been a great way to put out some of the fires and help the drought, but instead, she only increased the dry winds, spreading the wildfires, and cause a ton of beach erosion and surge damage along the east coast. Her lack of rains, and position just off the Florida coast, only made things worst.

I’ll continue to monitor the wildfires over the state through the weekend. I’m also watch the thunderstorm outlook later today and on sunday, for any possible local chases. I’ll update again later this evening and on sunday, concerning the Florida wildfires and drought conditions of May 2007.

Update: 2:27pm ET:

WILDFIRE UPDATE NEAR LAKE CITY, FL (30.19N 82.64W) 05/12/2007 COLUMBIA, COUNTY FL REPORTED BY: EMERGENCY MNGR SEVERAL ACCIDENTS HAVE OCCURRED ON INTERSTATES 10 AND 75 DUE TO SMOKE FROM WILDFIRES. VISIBILITY ON AREA ROADS IS NEAR ZERO. INTERSTATES 10 AND 75 ARE BEING CLOSED INCOLUMBIA COUNTY.

Thunderstorms are getting READY to fire over South-central Florida along several boundries over the next few hours. Currently monitoring for severe weather. On standby for pulse storms.
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