April isn’t over, but it’s a pretty good bet today won’t do much to change the month’s rainfall total. And even if there’s no rain today, April continues the string this year of months with above-normal rainfall, at least at Tampa International Airport.

In the first four months of 2007, we were 3.5 inches below the normal rainfall level.

The first four months of this year, we’re 3.5 inches above the normal rainfall total.

That’s not to say the drought is done. You don’t erase two years of below-normal rainfall in four months. But things are looking better.

The drought monitor now has nearly 70 percent of Florida free of any drought condition. That’s compared with about 16 percent three months ago.

At TIA, the weather service measured 2.64 inches of rain in April. However, nearly every drop, or 2.24 inches, fell April 5 and 6. Without that rain, we’d be talking about how dry things are going into May - with the rainy season more than a month off.

Though TIA has had plenty of rain in April, the blue ribbon in the Tampa Bay area goes to Lakeland, where the airport had 4.44 inches of rain, or nearly 2.5 inches more than normal.

Get Weekly Deals | Write a letter to the editor | Subscribe and get two weeks free | Place an Ad