Two months of no rain means less water in rivers like the Peace River. And when the river is getting low, it means no trips at the Canoe Outpost. When the river drops, limestone and fossils are exposed, but that does not help the Canoe Outpost with bringing in tourist. I have noticed that we have had less rain than usual. And when there is no rain, the trees and plants are not getting hydrated. Lots of plants and trees will go dry. The most rain that Florida has gotten was about a quarter-inch of rain in December 2011, making it the driest December since 1938.
Even in the coming March and April don't look like much rain. As Anthony Artusa, meteorologist with the Climate Prediction Center (under the National Weather Service) says that "March and April it looks like it may even be exacerbated." Artusa thinks that the cause of this less rain is because of the La Niña. La Niña is a weather pattern that is caused by the cooler-than normal seas across the tropical Pacific. When the sea becomes cooler, it makes the the jet stream shift north, this then directs the storm systems away from Florida.
With the low rate of the rivers (and other water parts of Florida) is causes problems for the animals that live in the rivers and lakes. It does not bring in tourist, but does bring in fisherman and fossil hunters. But if the rivers don't get some rain soon, then the river canoe business will loose money. At this point there is nothing much that we can do to help the river or those businesses out. All we can hope for is a good shower of rain to come and refill the rivers, feed the plants and trees and bring back some businesses that need the river flowing.
http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20120125/ARTICLE/120129678/2416/NEWS?p=1&tc=pg
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