Drought Information Statement for South Florida 10 15 2026 Issued By: NWS Miami-South Florida Contact Information: nws.miami@noaa.gov Gradual Improvement In Drought Across South Florida Please see all available products at https://drought.gov/drought-information-statements. Visit our local interactive drought page at https://nws-miami-drought-page-noaa.hub.arcgis.com/ Webmaster email or public phone line likely preferred, but individuals may choose to include their contact information directly. 1 Drought Update - 10/15/2026 Key Messages Recent Rainfall Across South Florida Lake Okeechobee is starting to see water enter from Kissimmee River due to the heavy rainfall over South Central Florida. This has help to increase the Lake level and allow for improvement in the drought conditions around the lake. Rest of South Florida saw only isolated scattered showers and storms which kept the drought status mostly steady. Update On Drought Intensity & Extent Across South Florida D0 (Abnormally Dry): Western Collier County, western Palm Beach County, western Broward County and most of metro Miami-Dade County along with portions of Glades and Hendry Counties. D1 (Moderate Drought): Eastern Collier County, eastern Everglades, far western metro areas of Miami-Dade County, and Lake Okeechobee region. D2 (Severe Drought): Western Everglades of Miami-Dade County into Mainland Monroe County. @NWSMiami i NEW Formatting instructions: Use a carriage return (SHIFT+Enter) when moving smaller black text immediately below the larger blue message. Do not use carriage returns elsewhere. Paragraph spacing (Enter) should only exist above the larger blue message bullets. Please do not use sub-bullets. See more instructions here. EXCESSIVE H E A T WARNING AREA ***do not export this slide as a PNG for public sharing** Recent Change in Drought Intensity 4-week change map and 1-week change map for South Florida One Week Drought Monitor Class Change Drought has improved slightly (+1) across Lake Okeechobee region. Coverage and placement of showers and thunderstorms through the early dry season of 2026/2027 will determine how the drought conditions improved across South Florida. Feel free to use other timescales if they tell a better story, or hide this slide if there’s no notable changes in your region. 4 weeks is a good default if you’re producing this product ~once per month as required by the directive. 1-Week Monitor Class Change (replace CHS with your WFO ID): https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/data/chng/png/current/current_wfoCHS_chng_1W.png Comparison of current drought monitor with drought monitor from 4 weeks ago for a desired WFO station: https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/data/chng/png/current/current_wfoCHS_chng_4W.png Changing date: Replace where it says “current” twice with the date in terms of “YYYYMMDD” Ex; July 5th, 2022 → 20220705 Rainfall observed with the departure and percent of normal since May 1st, 2026 The following table gives the rainfall from May 1st, 2026 to October 14th, 2026: Observed Dep fm Percent Airports: Rainfall Normal of Normal Donald J. Trump International Intl. 35.69 -2.99 92% Naples Municipal 34.00 -3.69 90% Ft Lauderdale-Hollywood Intl 41.65 +1.44 104% Miami Intl 28.91 -19.28 60% (14th driest wet season so far) Secondary Observation Sites Moore Haven (Glades) 27.34 -7.80 78% (18th driest wst season so far) Opa Locka (Miami-Dade) 42.35 -1.89 96% Homestead (Miami-Dade) 37.99 -6.56 85% (7th driest wet season so far) Hialeah (Miami-Dade) 44.85 -6.81 87% Miami Beach 36.78 -1.46 96% Devils Garden (Hendry) 33.97 -5.39 86% (12th driest wet season so far) Rainfall Totals, Percent of Normal and Departures (Since 05/01/2026) Image Captions: Data Courtesy South Florida Water Management from May 15th through October 14th, 2026 Wet Season 2026 Rainfall Totals, Percent of Normal and Departures (60 & 90 Days) Image Captions: Data Courtesy South Florida Water Management Past 60 Days (Since 8/16/2026) Past 90 Days (Since 7/16/2026) If longer-term drought is dominating in your region, you can use longer-timescale imagery to support that message. All data can be found at https://hprcc.unl.edu/maps.php?maps=ACISClimateMaps If you prefer a higher resolution precip source such as AHPS (https://water.weather.gov/precip/), that’s also okay but will have to be added manually each time. If little to no imagery is available for your area (i.e. USAPI) you may consider a data table. Some USAPI precipitation imagery available here:https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/monitoring/monthly-report/drought/202303#regional-usapi and here: https://niwa.co.nz/climate/island-climate-update Pacific Island Climate Update for ENSO: Monthly Reports, find the PDF on this site: https://niwa.co.nz/climate/island-climate-update and consider linking to it here if it’s not too out of date MSWEP: https://www.gloh2o.org/mswep/ may be another option. Other options: Precipitation Station Data from USGS: Stations in each State: https://waterdata.usgs.gov/al/nwis/current/?type=precip&group_key=NONE To change state, alter link where it says “/al/” and change to desired state’s abbreviation. Homepage: https://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis Precipitation Reports for Basins from WCC Availability: SNOTEL and COOP stations for each state in the west including Alaska. State: https://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/ftpref/support/water/SummaryReports/AZ/BPrecip_8_2022.pdf Where it says “AZ” change to desired state abbreviation to other states such as AK, CA, CO, ID, MT, NV, NM, OR, UT, WA, and WY. Replace where it says “Precip_8_2022” and change the “8” to the desired month of year and “2022” to the year wanted. Homepage: https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/wcc/home/snowClimateMonitoring/snowpack/basinDataReports/ 180 Day Precipitation & Percent of Normal (Since 1/01/2026) Rainfall observed with the departure and percent of normal since November 1st, 2025 The following table gives the rainfall from November 1, 2025 to October 14th, 2026: Observed Dep fm Percent Airports: Rainfall Normal of Normal Donald J. Trump International Intl. 52.21 -6.66 89% Naples Municipal 41.36 -6.52 86% Ft Lauderdale-Hollywood Intl 57.71 +0.35 100% Miami Intl 40.82 -23.14 64% Secondary Observation Sites Moore Haven (Glades) 35.00 -12.46 74% Opa Locka (Miami-Dade) 51.55 -7.67 78% Homestead (Miami-Dade) 48.84 -8.70 85% Hialeah (Miami-Dade) 58.86 -10.64 85% Devils Garden (Hendry) 40.90 -11.32 78% Image Captions: Data Courtesy South Florida Water Management Data since beginning of January 1st, 2026 If longer-term drought is dominating in your region, you can use longer-timescale imagery to support that message. All data can be found at https://hprcc.unl.edu/maps.php?maps=ACISClimateMaps If you prefer a higher resolution precip source such as AHPS (https://water.weather.gov/precip/), that’s also okay but will have to be added manually each time. If little to no imagery is available for your area (i.e. USAPI) you may consider a data table. Some USAPI precipitation imagery available here:https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/monitoring/monthly-report/drought/202303#regional-usapi and here: https://niwa.co.nz/climate/island-climate-update Pacific Island Climate Update for ENSO: Monthly Reports, find the PDF on this site: https://niwa.co.nz/climate/island-climate-update and consider linking to it here if it’s not too out of date MSWEP: https://www.gloh2o.org/mswep/ may be another option. Other options: Precipitation Station Data from USGS: Stations in each State: https://waterdata.usgs.gov/al/nwis/current/?type=precip&group_key=NONE To change state, alter link where it says “/al/” and change to desired state’s abbreviation. Homepage: https://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis Precipitation Reports for Basins from WCC Availability: SNOTEL and COOP stations for each state in the west including Alaska. State: https://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/ftpref/support/water/SummaryReports/AZ/BPrecip_8_2022.pdf Where it says “AZ” change to desired state abbreviation to other states such as AK, CA, CO, ID, MT, NV, NM, OR, UT, WA, and WY. Replace where it says “Precip_8_2022” and change the “8” to the desired month of year and “2022” to the year wanted. Homepage: https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/wcc/home/snowClimateMonitoring/snowpack/basinDataReports/ Hydrologic Impacts Links: See/submit Condition Monitoring Observer Reports (CMOR) and view the Drought Impacts Reporter Hydrologic Impacts (10/15/26) Lake Okeechobee water level is currently at 12.39 feet which is –2.65 feet below the normal value of 15.04 feet. The underground level for Water Conservation Area 1 in Interior Palm Beach County is at 17.62 feet. Compared to the normal value of 17.48 feet, this is +0.12 feet above normal for this time of year. The underground level for Water Conservation Area 2 in Interior Broward County is at 14.29 feet. Compared to the normal value of 12.77 feet, this is 1.52 feet above normal for this time of year. The underground level for Water Conservation Area 3 in Interior Miami-Dade County is at 9.84 feet. Compared to the normal value of 10.38 feet, this is -0.54 feet below normal for this time of year. Hydrologic Impacts on Lake Okeechobee Links: See/submit Condition Monitoring Observer Reports (CMOR) and view the Drought Impacts Reporter Hydrologic Impacts Locks that are closed due to low Lake Okeechobee water levels include: S-135 Boat Lock J&S Fish Camp in Martin County G-36 Boat Lock on Hendry Creek in Okeechobee County S-127 Boat Lock at Buckhead Ridge in Glades County S-131 Boat Lock in Lakeport in Glades County Courtesy of SFWMD Burn Bans Link: County Burn Bans Current Burn Bans No burns are currently in effect for South Florida. Soil moisture values have increased a little bit over metro Palm Beach and Metro Broward Counties from last week. Soil moisture values are now in the 70th-90th percentile over metro areas of Palm Beach and Broward Counties Rest of South Florida are still in the 30th-70th percentile range. Soil Moisture Image Captions: CPC Calculated Soil Moisture Ranking Percentile valid October 13th, 2026 6-10 Day Climate Prediction Center Precipitation Outlook Precipitation Outlook A frontal boundary is forecast to move southward and stall over South Florida this weekend before slowly washing out early next week. This pattern will lead to scattered to numerous showers and thunderstorms each day with the highest chance over the eastern areas of South Florida. The Climate Prediction Center forecasting “Leaning above normal rainfall” (33 to 44 percent) for our area over the next 6-10 days. {{PRECIP_OUTLOOK}} The Climate Prediction Center is forecasting “Likely above normal rainfall” (50 to 60 percent) north of Alligator Alley for the month of November. The Climate Prediction Center is Forecasting “Leaning above normal rainfall” (40 to 50 Percent) south of Alligator Alley for the month of November. Image Captions: Left - Climate Prediction Center Monthly Temperature Outlook. Right - Climate Prediction Center Monthly Precipitation Outlook. Valid MM YYYY Image Captions: Left - Climate Prediction Center Seasonal Temperature Outlook. Right - Climate Prediction Center Seasonal Precipitation Outlook. Valid MM to MM YYYY Monthly Outlook The latest monthly and seasonal outlooks can be found on the CPC homepage The Climate Prediction Center is forecasting “Likely above normal rainfall” (50 to 60 percent) for precipitation for our area for the months of November 2026 through January 2027. Image Captions: Left - Climate Prediction Center Monthly Temperature Outlook. Right - Climate Prediction Center Monthly Precipitation Outlook. Valid MM YYYY Image Captions: Left - Climate Prediction Center Seasonal Temperature Outlook. Right - Climate Prediction Center Seasonal Precipitation Outlook. Valid MM to MM YYYY Long-Range Outlooks The latest monthly and seasonal outlooks can be found on the CPC homepage Drought Outlook The latest monthly and seasonal outlooks can be found on the CPC homepage Drought has persisted for the duration of the wet season with oscillations in severity. The latest seasonal outlook is now calling for the removal of drought conditions across South Florida by the end of January 2027. Continued heavy rainfall will be needed to fully alleviate the drought across the region. Links to the latest: Climate Prediction Center Monthly Drought Outlook Climate Prediction Center Seasonal Drought Outlook {{OUTLOOK_DROUGHT_SEASONAL}}