Driest January Ever

The Florida winter months during La Niña periods are typically drier than normal.  La Niña generally refers to the presence of cool sea surface temperatures in the tropical Pacific Ocean.  This weather phenomenon causes a northward shift of the jet stream away from Florida which in turn leads to fewer winter storm systems reaching the Florida peninsula. . . and therefore less precipitation across the state.

The lack of rainfall this year has been exceptional.  The cold fronts that have pushed through the region have lacked significant moisture and only produced light shower activity if any precipitation fell at all.  Isolated areas received less than one tenth of an inch of rainfall on January 2, 11, 18 and 27.  Most observing stations had rainfall totals less than 5% of normal.  Melbourne and Vero Beach recieved only a trace of rain this year . . . similarly we have received only trace amounts of precipitation so far in 2012.

This is becoming the longest dry stretch on record for most of east Central Florida reporting stations.  Anything over 40 days will generally go into the records books as a driest-ever event.

TOP 5 LONGEST PERIODS WITHOUT MEASURABLE RAINFALL FOR MELBOURNE AND
VERO BEACH (NUMBER OF DAYS AND PERIOD END DATE):

     MELBOURNE                       VERO BEACH
1. 46  01/03/1969               1. 41  05/24/1970
2. 38  12/10/1967, 03/13/1961   2. 35* 01/31/2012
3. 37  05/12/1971               3. 32  02/04/2003, 01/29/1960
4. 35* 01/31/2012               4. 31  12/09/1995
5. 34  11/02/2010, 12/27/1961   5. 29  03/11/1951

*DRY STRETCH IS STILL ONGOING...SO FINAL TOTAL IS NOT YET SET.

THIS JANUARY IS THE DRIEST ON RECORD FOR SEVERAL SITES ACROSS EAST
CENTRAL FLORIDA...INCLUDING DAYTONA BEACH...MELBOURNE...VERO
BEACH...DELAND...SANFORD...TITUSVILLE...AND FORT PIERCE. IT IS THE
SECOND DRIEST JANUARY ON RECORD FOR STUART AND THE THIRD DRIEST FOR
ORLANDO AND CLERMONT.

TOP 5 DRIEST JANUARY RANKINGS WITH RAINFALL IN INCHES AND THE
YEAR(S) IT OCCURRED:

    DAYTONA         ORLANDO            MELBOURNE          VERO BEACH
1. 0.07" 2012        1. 0.02" 1907        1. TRACE 2012        1. TRACE 2012
2. 0.15" 1950        2. 0.11" 1927        2. 0.09" 1974             2. 0.17" 1981
3. 0.24" 2006        3. 0.13" 2012        3. 0.13" 1971             3. 0.21" 1975/1960
4. 0.30" 1974        4. 0.15" 1950        4. 0.24" 1951             4. 0.26" 1943
5. 0.32" 1981        5. 0.18" 1974        5. 0.30" 1981             5. 0.32" 1965/1950

JANUARY 2012 RAINFALL TOTALS FOR THE FOUR MAIN CLIMATE SITES ACROSS
EAST CENTRAL FLORIDA ARE AS FOLLOWS (RANKINGS PROVIDED IF IN THE TOP
10):

-DAYTONA BEACH RECEIVED 0.07 INCHES OF RAINFALL FOR THE MONTH, WHICH
WAS 2.67 INCHES BELOW NORMAL. THIS IS THE DRIEST JANUARY ON RECORD
FOR THIS SITE WITH RECORDS GOING BACK TO 1924. THE PREVIOUS RECORD
FOR THE DRIEST JANUARY WAS 0.15 INCHES SET IN 1950.

-ORLANDO RECEIVED 0.13 INCHES OF RAINFALL FOR THE MONTH, WHICH WAS
2.22 INCHES BELOW NORMAL. THIS IS THE 3RD DRIEST JANUARY ON RECORD
FOR THIS SITE WITH RECORDS GOING BACK TO 1892.

-MELBOURNE RECEIVED A TRACE OF RAINFALL FOR THE MONTH, WHICH WAS
2.27 INCHES BELOW NORMAL. THIS IS THE DRIEST JANUARY ON RECORD FOR
THIS SITE WITH RECORDS GOING BACK TO 1939. THE PREVIOUS RECORD FOR
THE DRIEST JANUARY WAS 0.09 INCHES SET BACK IN 1974.

-VERO BEACH RECEIVED A TRACE OF RAINFALL FOR THE MONTH, WHICH WAS
2.50 INCHES BELOW NORMAL. THIS IS THE DRIEST JANUARY ON RECORD FOR
THIS SITE WITH RECORDS GOING BACK TO 1942. THE PREVIOUS RECORD FOR
THE DRIEST JANUARY WAS 0.17 INCHES SET BACK IN 1981.