Upcoming rain to barely impact drought

PANAMA CITY — The first substantial amount of rain in nearly two months could fall on Bay County this week, but it will still barely reduce drought conditions in the area, weather experts say.

According to the National Weather Service in Tallahassee, there’s a 70% chance of rain and thunderstorms Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning for the county that could generate between 1 inches and 2 inches of rainfall. Still, the county is under moderate drought conditions and greater threats of wildfires that likely won’t be phased much by a single strong thunderstorm, experts say.

“It’ll probably help a little bit, but it will not put too much of a dent in the drought,” said Lauren Nash, meteorologist for the NWS in Tallahassee.

NWS data shows that the area has received only 0.01 inches of rain in October, considered as typically one of the driest months of the year for the area. However, only 0.01 inches of rain fell during the entire month of September, the data shows, making the situation worse.

“It really needs to be a substantial rain before it makes any difference,” said Steve Weherley, wildlife mitigation specialist with the Florida Forest Service. “Two inches in one localized area — that’s definitely going to help, but it’s not going to take us out of the drought conditions we’re currently in.”

Last week, officials in nearby Walton County issued a burn ban because of the severity of the drought. Part of the northern section of Walton is under extreme drought conditions — one level below the highest drought conditions possible.

To date, Bay County has not issued a burn ban.

Bay County emergency officials have said they’ve had concerns about potential wildfires because of the drought, but haven’t yet had any serious issues.

“Right now they’re just pushing for people to not burn under these conditions if possible, instead of passing an outright ban,” Weherley said of Bay County officials.