Wettest March In 20 Years Leaves Area Saturated

    The wettest March in years left Lake County soil saturated in the past week. Another rainy weekend left the county in lowest, or wettest, range of the Keetch Byram Drought Index, a tool used by the Florida Forest Service to gauge potential fire risk. The month closed as the wettest March in at least a decade, with the Florida Forest Service’s (FFS) Paisley weather station recording 8.6 inches of rain, the most since 9.15 inches was recorded in 2001.
    Historically, March has been known to produce little to no rain. FFS data archives indicate that in many years there has been less than one inch of rain during the month.
    Area weather watcher Johnny Bates, who recorded over 13 inches of rain during March at his Pittman home, noticed the anomaly.
    “That’s a lot of rain for March. It’s very rare to have this much rain right now.”
    Lake County hasn’t been the only area to see wetter than normal conditions during the month. As the rainfall totals grew during March, all of North and most of Central Florida has moved into the KBDI’s lowest range, a good sign that conditions going forward, at least in the near term, will not be conducive to fire, a traditional fear during this time of year when dry conditions and rising temperatures combine to bring an increase in wildfires.