Drought continues to riddle the Big Bend and now areas along the Suwannee River in Madison and Lafayette counties have been labeled to be in “exceptional drought.”
In a press release, the National Weather Service of Tallahassee said that as “little to no rain is expected for the next week, drought conditions may continue to worsen across the area … water demand increases, temperatures warm up and rivers and lakes struggle to recover.”
Most of North Florida over to central Walton County is under an “extreme drought.”
Previous reporting from the Tallahassee Democrat said that this is the first time in 14 years (2011) the region has hit exceptional drought level.
As of August, the region was more than 5 inches down from a normal year and it was the 38th driest year to date for Tallahassee going back 131 years, according to drought.gov.
The press release provided a summary of impacts per region.
For the Big Bend, there is a current burn ban in Lafayette County, a number of lakes and ponds across the region are dry and as farming season begins, worries remain over agriculture.
Arianna Otero is the trending and breaking news reporter for the Tallahassee Democrat. Contact her via email at AOtero@tallahassee.com and follow her on X: @ari_v_otero.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: North Florida’s drought reaches ‘exceptional’ level for first time in 14 years
Reporting by Arianna Otero, Tallahassee Democrat / Tallahassee Democrat
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
