The Southeast Regional Climate Center pointed out on Facebook today that Miami has had its wettest start to December on record. So far this month they have received 8.57 inches of rain. The old record was 4.38 inches set in 1964, followed by 2.70 inches set in 1979. You can produce the complete list at https://www.sercc.com/perspectives?station=MIAthr.
One of the impacts of the heavy rain has been the closure of Zoo Miami due to flooding. According to Bay News 9 here, there is so much water in the moats surrounding some of the animals that they are afraid the animals might be able to swim out and escape, while others might drown. Walkways have so much water on them that it is not safe for visitors and fish from a nearby lake have been spotted swimming under benches.
The southern tip of Florida was the only place in the Southeast that had drought conditions as of last week’s Drought Monitor. It would not surprise me if this disappears in the next edition.
