Weekend Rains Create Unique Soil Situation

    Days of steady rain have left Lake County, and Florida, saturated in such a way that is rarely seen. Even hurricane events historically fail to have such a large impact on the state's soil moisture as was reported early this week by the Florida Forest Service.
   The FFS tracks the state's soil moisture daily through its Keetch Byram Drought Index. The KBDI tracks on a 0-750 range, with the higher the number noting the dryer the soil, and by extension fire risk. On Monday, the entire state was shown to be in the index's lowest range. Even areas around Tampa, which last week were listed as 'abnormally dry' on the US Drought Monitor Index, operated through the University of Nebraska with support from the United States Department of Agriculture, by Monday were reading as saturated as the rest of the state.
   The KBDI is often used as an indicating source in dry weather when governments consider burn bans. Burn bans are not uncommon in Spring, when rising temperatures coupled with historically dry conditions can cause soil to try quickly, and remain so. Sometimes, conditions worsen until the traditional summer rainy season arrives in June.
   While it is impossible to know about future rainfall between now and summer, the weekend’s rainfall has created a soil saturation level that should allow for many weeks of greatly reduced fire risk.
   As much as 2.6 inches of steady, ‘soaking in’ rain arrived over the weekend in North Lake County. The slow, steady showers created few problems on area roads or power outages, but rather served to gently provide a beneficial boost to the area. On Monday, rainfall totals reported ranged from a low of 2.20 inches at a weather station in Paisley, up to 2.6 inches by a private gauge monitored in Pittman by longtime resident John Bates.
   “Not bad,” Bates said of the totals, echoing agency officials who see any winter rain as a positive.
   “Anytime we see rain in this quantity, it is a good thing in terms of brush fire safety," said Lake County Fire Rescue Battalion Chief Jeff Hurst. "It helps, but we are entering into our dry season. Residents should remain vigilant of dry conditions and possible future burn bans".