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Cold Front Could Bring Region's First Rain Of 2009

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By NEIL JOHNSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 6, 2009

TAMPA - Showers and thunderstorms forecast to herald the arrival of a cold front Wednesday would produce the first rain for West Central Florida this year as 2009 follows the dry path of 2008.

The National Weather Service expects a 60 percent chance for rain Wednesday with about a 20 percent shot of thunderstorms as part of the approaching front.

In 2008, rain stations operated by the Southwest Florida Water Management District measured below average rainfall in 14 of the district's 16 counties stretching from Levy south through Charlotte and inland through Polk and Hardee.

Only Levy and Highlands recorded slightly above normal rain last year. The other counties, including all of West Central Florida, received from 83 percent to 89 percent of typical rain totals.

So far this year, rain hasn't been any more abundant.

Of the 87 rain stations the water management district monitors, only three – one in Levy, one in Inverness and one near Balm – measured any rain, and none of the three saw more than 2/100ths of an inch.

The drier-than-normal 2008 follows 2007 where rainfall in the Tampa Bay area ranged from 40 to 50 inches measured by the Southeast River Forecast Center based in Georgia. Typical annual rainfall in Pasco, Pinellas, Hillsborough and Polk ranges from 52 to 54 inches.

Reporter Neil Johnson can be reached at (813) 259-7731 or njohnson@tampatrib.com.

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