What changed

Florida’s latest U.S. Drought Monitor shows a small increase in drought coverage. The map released Thursday, October 1, covers data valid September 29 at 8 a.m. EDT. The state table lists 88.59% of Florida in D0-D4 conditions and 52.41% in D1-D4 drought.

Compared with the prior week, D1-D4 drought increased from 50.83% to 52.41%. D2-D4 severe-or-worse drought was unchanged at 12.79%. D3-D4 extreme-or-worse drought declined from 2.01% to 1.80%. D4 exceptional drought was 0.00%.

The authoritative Florida page is here: https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/CurrentMap/StateDroughtMonitor.aspx?FL

What it means for landscaping businesses

The U.S. Drought Monitor is a weekly map of drought location and intensity produced through a collaboration among the National Drought Mitigation Center, USDA, NOAA, and NASA, according to Drought.gov. Drought.gov describes D0 as a precursor to drought, not drought, and D1 through D4 as drought categories from moderate to exceptional.

For landscape operators, the useful point is not a statewide rule change from this page. The supplied Drought Monitor page does not report current Florida impacts or current watering restrictions. It does list historical Florida impacts: at D0, increased landscape irrigation is needed and voluntary water conservation is requested; at D1, trees and bushes brown; at D2, lawns and landscapes go dormant. The page says those are examples of impacts experienced in Florida in the past, not necessarily current conditions at a specific job site.

What remains unknown

The supplied text does not identify which Florida counties, cities, or metro areas were in D1, D2, D3, or D4 on the September 29 map. It also does not establish whether any water management district, county, or municipality changed irrigation or landscape-watering restrictions in response to current conditions.

The Drought Monitor itself warns that it focuses on broad-scale conditions and that local conditions may vary. Shops that schedule irrigation-dependent work still need the local water-management or municipal rule record before treating this map as a customer-facing watering limit.

Evidence

Sources

  1. Primary authority
    droughtmonitor.unl.edu: Florida | U.S. Drought Monitor
  2. Primary authority
    drought.gov: U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM)
  3. Interested party
    pressherald.com: The Portland Press Herald
  4. Primary authority
    droughtmonitor.unl.edu: Data | U.S. Drought Monitor
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