{"id":317923,"date":"2026-06-24T10:06:37","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T10:06:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/317923\/"},"modified":"2026-06-24T10:06:37","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T10:06:37","slug":"tampa-bay-officials-extend-watering-restrictions-amid-ongoing-drought","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/317923\/","title":{"rendered":"Tampa Bay officials extend watering restrictions amid ongoing drought"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tightened watering restrictions<\/a> stemming from a drought that has gripped Tampa Bay for months will continue through Oct. 1, extending an order that would have expired July 1.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, the governing board for the Southwest Florida Water Management District approved prolonging the \u201cModified Phase III Extreme Water Shortage\u201d order that began in April.<\/p>\n

Under the order, residents can water one day per week within reduced hours, from 12:01 a.m. to 4 a.m. or after 8 p.m. to 11:59 p.m., unless a resident\u2019s city or county has more restrictive hours in place. Properties less than an acre can use only one time window.<\/p>\n

The water shortage is in effect for Pinellas, Pasco, Hillsborough, Hernando, Polk and Manatee counties, among other counties and cities.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

While some drought conditions have improved over the past month, water officials said it was not enough to pull back restrictions.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow we are in the wet season, so we should see the rainfall picking up and helping,\u201d said Tamera McBride, the district\u2019s manager of hydrological data during the Tuesday meeting.<\/p>\n

The region needs consistent rainfall, McBride said. Tampa Bay\u2019s typical afternoon thunderstorms that often bring daily deluges should provide relief, she said.<\/p>\n

Over the past few weeks, though, Tampa Bay has been in a beastly pattern of little rainfall and hot weather.<\/p>\n

A consistently unfavorable wind direction has meant coastal areas of Tampa Bay have gone without afternoon storms.<\/p>\n

Instead, Central Florida and the east coast have been on the receiving end of the downpours. More favorable conditions for storms near the Gulf coast could come around Friday and stay into the weekend, said Stephen Shiveley, a meteorologist for Tampa Bay\u2019s weather service.<\/p>\n

If rainfall across the region becomes more consistent and public water supply improves, the district could rescind the order before October, said April Breton, the district\u2019s water use permit bureau chief.<\/p>\n

Across the district\u2019s counties, drought conditions ranged from \u201cextremely abnormal\u201d to \u201cmoderately abnormal,\u201d according to the district. District-wide, rainfall was about 11 inches below average as of May, McBride said.<\/p>\n

Extending the water shortage order ensures the availability of water during dry conditions, the district said in its meeting agenda notes.<\/p>\n

May closed out the official end of Tampa Bay\u2019s eight-month dry season.<\/p>\n

Drought conditions across Florida, including in parts of Tampa Bay, have improved slightly as of mid-June. However, all of Pinellas and much of Hillsborough County remains under extreme drought conditions.<\/p>\n

Rivers, lakes and ponds continue to struggle under the parched conditions.<\/p>\n

For example, the Withlacoochee River\u2019s water flow is \u201cexceptionally low\u201d in some spots. In other spots, the river has no flowing water, and it\u2019s leading to algae blooms, water officials said.<\/p>\n

Other ponds and lakes have dried up across the region, the weather service said in a mid-June drought update.<\/p>\n

The National Weather Service said vegetation is quick to suck up rainfall during the region\u2019s hot summers, and water is rapidly being used by plants. However, as rain falls more regularly, forecasters expect the drought to wane.<\/p>\n

The past week has plunged Florida and Tampa Bay into the depths of summer. Central Florida was under multiple heat advisories last week when the feel-like temperaturecould reach up to 110 degrees.<\/p>\n

Forecasters expect the days will remain hot over the next week. Highs will top out in the mid-90s and the heat index \u2014 a mix of temperature and humidity \u2014 could soar to around 107 degrees, just a touch away from triggering more advisories.<\/p>\n

The drought, while painful, is not the worst that Tampa Bay has experienced. The most intense wasin 2000 and 2001, when the region was under an \u201cexceptional drought,\u201d the highest level.<\/p>\n

A July outlook from the Climate Prediction Center<\/a> showed Florida had equal chances of above- or below-normal rainfall. The weather service anticipates the drought will improve over the next three months.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have likely now seen the worst of the drought conditions, at least until the dry season returns,\u201d the weather service said.<\/p>\n

\u2022 \u2022 \u2022<\/p>\n

The Tampa Bay Times launched the Environment Hub in 2025 to focus on some of Florida\u2018s most urgent and enduring challenges. You can contribute through our journalism fund by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tightened watering restrictions stemming from a drought that has gripped Tampa Bay for months will continue through Oct.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":317924,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[147,14758,74059,135,1526,137,136,132114,21161,66183,58934],"class_list":["post-317923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-central-florida","tag-drought-conditions","tag-extreme-drought-conditions","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-bay","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news","tag-water-officials","tag-water-shortage","tag-watering-restrictions","tag-weather-service"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317923","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=317923"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317923\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/317924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=317923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=317923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=317923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}