The wet season hasn’t been all that wet in Central Florida. That combined with what was an extreme drought earlier in the year has allowed severe drought conditions to continue across parts of the region.

Usually by late July or early August any drought conditions are eradicated.

Thursday’s drought update from the United States Department of Agriculture revealed little change in drought status.

The last time drought conditions were this widespread, intense and lasted this long in Central Florida was back in 2000.

That drought continued and intensified through the winter and spring of 2001.

That is highly unlikely to happen this time around as a strong El Niño is expected through at least spring.

The El Niño pattern typically brings much above normal rainfall from fall through early spring.

Long range climate models continues to be bullish on a very wet fall and winter for the state of Florida.