Dry spell or Drought?
Jacksonville, Fla – Dry Spell vs. the Drought Indexes My yard looks dried up and it hasn’t rained in weeks.
Sure there are those nice wet Springs, but they tend to be very wet and they only happen about once every 5-6 years.
This year, 2017, our spring has been different than some springs, we started off dry.
Keetch-Byrum vs. Palmer Drought Indexes When we discuss fire danger the best drought index to follow is the Keetch-Byrum Drought Index.
Jacksonville is basically experiencing wet (blue) conditions.
The best longer term drought indicator is the Palmer Drought Index.
When all of the water restrictions were put into place in California where they went nearly a decade without above normal rainfall, this index showed burgundy red, for extreme drought.
The Palmer index around Jacksonville is just now showing longer term drought hints, just hints.
Yet, longer term, if the summer rains were to fail to show up, we could be looking at water restrictions in 2018.