GETTING WORSE. Most Of Palm Beach County To Remain In Drought Through July.
BOCA RATON, FL (BocaNewsNow.com) (Copyright © 2026 MetroDesk Media, LLC) — Drought conditions remain firmly in place across South Florida, including most of Palm Beach County, even as the region’s rainy season starts. The National Weather Service in Miami reports that eastern metro areas of Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties are now in moderate drought, while the western portions of those counties are now in a severe drought. Conditions across the rest of South Florida, including most of the interior, are classified as extreme drought. Portions of the eastern coast actually degraded one category over the past week.
Palm Beach County has run a significant rainfall deficit for months. Palm Beach International Airport has recorded just 19.00 inches of rain since November 1, roughly 2.69 inches below normal and 88 percent of what the area should have seen by mid-May. The picture is worse further inland: Palm Beach Gardens has logged only 11.50 inches over the same period, about 54 percent of normal and nearly 10 inches short of where it should be. Over just the past 30 days, the South Florida Water Management District as a whole received only 66 percent of normal rainfall, a deficit of more than an inch across the district.
Lake Okeechobee, the region’s primary backup water supply, sits at 11.43 feet — 1.89 feet below normal for this time of year. The low lake level has already forced the closure of four boat locks in Martin, Glades and Okeechobee counties, with a fifth, the S-193 at Taylor Creek, restricted to weekend daylight hours only. Underground water levels in the Palm Beach County conservation area are actually slightly above normal at 16.35 feet, but the South Florida Water Management District has issued a Water Shortage Warning for Collier County as supply concerns mount across the region.
Fire danger remains a concern, though Palm Beach County is faring better than its neighbors. Keetch-Byram Drought Index values in Palm Beach are running in the 300 to 400 range, lower than the 400 to 550 readings across most of eastern South Florida and the 500 to 600 readings to the west. The current fire danger rating is moderate, the second level on a five-step scale. Burn bans remain in effect in Collier and Hendry counties; no burn ban has been issued for Palm Beach County.
Relief may finally be on the way. Forecasters say tropical moisture will begin pushing north from the Florida Straits this weekend and into early next week as an upper level low develops over the Bahamas, setting up scattered to numerous rain chances each day. The Climate Prediction Center gives South Florida a 50 to 60 percent chance of above-normal precipitation over the next six to 10 days. Even so, the longer-term outlook calls for drought to persist through July across interior and west coast areas, with Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties unlikely to see the drought “end” before the end of July.
