Fire danger remains extremely high across the peninsula of Florida despite rainfall last weekend.
The current Fire Danger Index (below) ranges from Very High to Extreme across all of East Central Florida from Jacksonville south to Lake Okeechobee. The Fire Danger Index is a continuous reference scale for estimating the potential for a fire to start and require suppression action on any given day.
There are currently about 39,346 acres burning across the Florida Peninsula.
Put another way about 61.4781 mi² (square miles) are burning across Florida today.
Part of the reason for the extremely high fire danger is the year's long drought that has ravaged Florida. Most climate scientists agree that back-to-back La Niña episodes the past 3 years have been most to blame for the current extremely dry terrain. What is causing the repeated La Niña episodes is still being studied. The chart above shows this year's rainfall totals. Most reporting stations across Central Florida have received less than half of the 30-year normal rainfall.
Swamps can burn. Here a shallow swamp is afire surrounded by water.
Above: Fires burning in Florida today (click on any image to enlarge). There are several large fires near our lake house (or should I say dry-lake house). Thankfully the smoke has been blowing to the east, away from us for the past few days.
The National Weather Service's Climate Prediction Center is a bit more vague with their forecast. They are predicting a return to "normal" conditions next week which would indicate that rains might return sometime in May.
Typically Florida's rainy season begins late in May.
DEATH VALLEY'S 113°
Hottest April Temperature on Record
An unprecedented April heat wave brought a second day of sizzling temperatures to the Western U.S. yesterday, where temperatures ranging 20 - 30 degrees above normal have toppled numerous all-time April heat records. Nearly every weather station in the Inter-mountain West has broken, tied, or come within 1 - 2 ° F of their all-time record April heat record since Sunday. Most notably, the 113° F measured at Furnace Creek west of Las Vegas, in Death Valley National Park on Sunday, April 22 was tied for the hottest April temperature ever recorded in the U.S.
Yesterday, the high temperature in Death Valley "cooled off" to 110° F, the fourth highest April temperature ever measured there. The heat wave peaked Sunday and Monday, and temperatures will be closer to normal for the remainder of the week.