January was a soaker for East Central and South Florida.
In fact, it was the wettest January since 1932 for the South Florida region, according to the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD).
January 27th was the wettest dry season day in a quarter of a century, and the single stretch of weather between January 22nd and January 28th was the wettest we've seen since Tropical Storm Isaac in August 2012.
Nearly all basins in SFWMD's 16-county region were above-average and received more than 300% of average rainfall for the month.
Widespread rains also led to a record 476% of average for the season.
To put it into perspective -- the area normally tallies 18" on the whole (November through May), but many areas picked up more than half of that in January alone.
Here are a couple of January totals from official National Weather Service observation sites:
- Vero Beach: 9.39" (wettest on record)
- West Palm Beach: 9.90" (5th all time)
What should you look forward to in the months ahead?
Well, as I reported a while back, El Nino will be a huge player this season.
El Niño -- a major player in this upcoming dry season. pic.twitter.com/3kGANAFo3K
— Tyler Mauldin (@TyTheWeatherGuy) October 21, 2015
During El Nino, the jet stream is positioned right over the peninsula which leads to stormier, wetter, and cooler conditions for us.
It doesn't look like the El Nino pattern will let up anytime soon, so expect the rest of this dry season to continue to be atypical.