{"id":349843,"date":"2026-07-23T13:37:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T13:37:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/349843\/"},"modified":"2026-07-23T13:37:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T13:37:11","slug":"south-florida-drought-concerns-persist-after-unusually-dry-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/349843\/","title":{"rendered":"South Florida drought concerns persist after unusually dry month"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 The latest Drought Monitor shows a mix of improvements and setbacks across Florida as scattered summer storms continue to deliver uneven rainfall across the state.<\/p>\n<p>Some areas received 1 to 5 inches of rain during the past week, with the heaviest totals falling along Florida&#8217;s Gulf Coast and parts of the Panhandle. Those areas saw modest improvements in drought conditions. However, locations that missed out on the week&#8217;s showers experienced minor drought deterioration as longer-term rainfall deficits continued to build.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cbs12.com\/weather\/hurricane-maps\/tropical-storm-bertha-weakens-as-it-heads-toward-texas\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Read more <\/a>on Tropical Storm Bertha. <\/p>\n<p>South Florida remains one of the driest parts of the state. According to the Southeast Regional Climate Center, Miami recorded its fourth-driest month on record for the period, finishing nearly 4.7 inches below normal rainfall. Naples also ranked among its driest months, coming in sixth driest with a rainfall deficit of more than 2.6 inches.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"South Florida drought concerns persist after unusually dry month. (WPEC)\" class=\"ImageEmbed_image__qZBo_\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"365\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/aa103386-0635-4a1f-82f1-61a70cb3037d-DroughtMonitorFLProgression.png\" width=\"648\"\/><\/p>\n<p>South Florida drought concerns persist after unusually dry month. (WPEC)<\/p>\n<p>The ongoing dryness continues to fuel impacts across the region. Water levels remain extremely low in parts of the western Everglades, and wildfire activity persists across the state. The Berger Fire in the Rotenberger Wildlife Management Area in Palm Beach County has burned more than 14,300 acres since it began on July 17.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cbs12.com\/news\/local\/storm-chances-increase-this-weekend-as-heat-continues-across-south-florida\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Read more<\/a> on the South Florida&#8217;s weather today. <\/p>\n<p>Although scattered thunderstorms are expected to continue through Florida&#8217;s rainy season, drought experts say more widespread and consistent rainfall will be needed to erase the longer-term rainfall deficits and improve groundwater, wetlands and other water resources.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"South Florida drought concerns persist after unusually dry month. (WPEC)\" class=\"ImageEmbed_image__qZBo_\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"365\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/da619a26-882e-4747-b177-d422d82b7b76-Drought.png\" width=\"648\"\/><\/p>\n<p>South Florida drought concerns persist after unusually dry month. (WPEC)<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, temperatures remained above normal across much of the Southeast during the past week, increasing evaporation and placing additional stress on areas already experiencing drought.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 The latest Drought Monitor shows a mix of improvements and setbacks across&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":342153,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":["post-349843","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349843","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=349843"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349843\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/342153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=349843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=349843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=349843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}