Above-average rainfall in August still leaves District’s southern region abnormally dry

A map illustrates rainfall conditions in August across the St. Johns River Water Management District.

PALATKA, Fla., Sept. 13, 2022 — While some areas in the central and northern region of the St. Johns River Water Management District received more than 9 inches of rain, southern portions of the District, including parts of Brevard, Indian River, Okeechobee and Osceola counties, were left abnormally dry as reported in the U.S. Drought Monitor.

A full report outlining August hydrologic conditions was presented at the District’s Governing Board meeting Tuesday. Highlights include:

Rainfall

• Districtwide, August rainfall averaged 7.41 inches, which is 0.41 inches above the average for the month.
• Districtwide, the cumulative rainfall total for the past 12 months is 50.07 inches, which is .94 inches below the long-term average.

Groundwater 

• Upper Floridan aquifer conditions (groundwater levels) at the end of August were mostly in the normal range across the District, except in areas of eastern Duval, northern St. Johns and Indian River counties where conditions were in the low range.
• Groundwater levels expressed as a single Districtwide index are at the 53rd percentile Districtwide. This means that since 1980, aquifer levels have been higher than they currently are about 47 percent of the time.

Spring flows

• The mean monthly flow at Silver Springs increased to 599 cubic feet per second (cfs), or 387 million gallons per day (mgd), which is a 6 cfs increase from July’s mean and remains in the normal range for this time of year.
• At the Blue Spring station in Volusia County, the mean monthly flow was 147 cfs, or 95 mgd.
• At Rock Springs, the monthly mean flow increased 1 cfs to 59 cfs (38 mgd), which is in the normal range for August.
• Mean monthly flow at Wekiwa Springs increased to 70 cfs (45 mgd), which is in the high range for the time of year.

To learn more about rainfall totals and other hydrologic data collected, visit www.sjrwmd.com.

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