BOCA RATON, FL (BocaNewsNow.com) (Copyright © 2026 MetroDesk Media, LLC) — South Florida’s drought is easing overall, but the National Weather Service says conditions actually got worse over the past week in parts of the interior and in metro Broward and Miami-Dade counties. The latest U.S. Drought Monitor shows the region is somewhere between “abnormally dry” along the coast to suffering “extreme drought” in northeast Glades County and other interior pockets. Forecasters say a return to drier weather could quickly undo the recent gains.
The numbers tell the story. Rainfall since May 15 is running well below normal across the region, with Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport at just 33 percent of normal and North Miami Beach at 39 percent. Palm Beach International and Miami International aren’t far behind, sitting at 72 percent and 50 percent of normal, respectively. Zoom out to the past 180 days, and the shortfall is even more dramatic — Miami International is more than 12 inches below normal rainfall since November 1. Soil moisture across most of South Florida remains stuck in the bottom 10 to 20 percent historically, with only coastal Palm Beach County creeping into the 20 to 30 percentile range.
Lake Okeechobee is in bad shape. As of July 1, the lake sat at 10.93 feet — nearly two and a half feet below its normal level for this time of year. That’s forced the South Florida Water Management District to close several boat locks, including the S-135 lock at J&S Fish Camp in Martin County, the G-36 lock on Hendry Creek in Okeechobee County, and both the S-127 and S-131 locks in Glades County. The S-193 lock at Taylor Creek will only open on weekends during daylight hours until conditions improve.
Fire danger is holding at a moderate level — 2 out of 5 — across all of South Florida as of July 2, and Collier County has a burn ban in effect under order of local officials. The Keetch-Byram Drought Index, a measure of how parched the ground is, still reads 300 to 400 in eastern South Florida, though western areas have improved into the 200 to 300 range as the rainy season chugs along.
The Climate Prediction Center says there’s an equal chance of above- or below-normal rainfall over the next two weeks and for the month of July overall. Longer term, forecasters expect the drought to hang on in South Florida’s interior through September, though it should slowly improve as the rainy season progresses.
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