Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary Water Year 2025 Summary

Pleased New Yr! Nicely, blissful new water 12 months, that’s. Like others in South Florida, our conservation staff marks the calendar by the annual rise and fall of water ranges, and June 1 marked the primary day of our new hydrologic 12 months. It’s no coincidence that June 1 was additionally the primary day of hurricane season—our hydrologic 12 months coincides with the beginning of the wet season, a season fueled by day by day rainfall and waves of tropical moisture.

We’re now a full month into “Water Yr 2026.” This previous June delivered 9.8 inches of rain at our official Sanctuary rain gauge, though rainfall throughout the area was patchy, and different components of our area acquired rather more rain. This was 15 p.c beneath our June common of 11.5 inches. Water ranges within the swamp are simply beginning to come again as much as fill the deepest components of the swamp, and as summer season rains proceed, we’ll see water ranges rapidly rise.

Taking this chance to look again on the previous 12 months, Water Yr 2025 was marked by a “moist” moist (or wet) season and a “dry” dry season. From June 1, 2024, to Might 31, 2025, we acquired a complete of 65.1 inches of rain, which was barely greater than our 66-year common of 60.0 inches. Whereas the overall annual rainfall was typical, the distribution of rainfall throughout the 12 months was uncommon. Month-to-month rainfall totals averaged 33% greater than common in our rainiest months (June by October), largely as a result of tropical techniques we noticed in June, August, and October.

The rain stopped abruptly in November, and month-to-month rainfall totals from November by April have been 61% decrease than common. The dearth of dry season rainfall, coupled with the over-drainage in latest a long time that has been described by our analysis staff, resulted in water ranges falling in a short time by the winter and spring months.

Quickly falling water ranges made foraging tougher for wading birds throughout this 12 months’s nesting season (notably later within the spring), however good feeding situations early within the 12 months resulted in a fairly good Wooden Stork nesting effort in Southwest Florida. We’ll depart that as a little bit of a teaser and plan to supply an annual Wooden Stork nesting replace subsequent month!