Most of Florida is in a drought A spokeswoman for Gore said that he was citing the United States Drought Monitor, a weekly map published on Thursdays showing drought conditions.
While that was the highest this year, there have been multiple other weeks that it reached similarly high levels since 2000.
During two weeks in April 2012, 99.96 percent of Florida was in a drought.
This event will be similar.
"Since the Florida wet season has returned with a vengeance over the past week, and is forecast to continue over the next few weeks, the amount of Florida in drought two to four weeks from now should be substantially less than what it is today."
Experts told us that Florida is prone to periodic droughts, but rising temperatures as a result of climate change can make droughts worse.
This year the Florida Peninsula only received half of its normal rainfall during the dry season, leading to the most active wildfire season since 2011.
"There is an increasing temperature trend, and warmer temperatures lead to greater evapotranspiration rates, which can exacerbate these periods of drought," Zierden said.
While Gore’s numerical statement about the drought is correct, David Nolan, chair of the University of Miami’s Department of Atmospheric Sciences, cautioned against pointing to any particular weather event as proof of climate change.
Gore correctly cited the United States Drought Monitor which showed that 71.66 percent of Florida was experiencing a drought for the week ending May 30.