You Could See Highs In 90s/100s

Florida will see more rounds of rain through Thursday, bringing some much-needed relief to parts of the drought-stricken state. This type of soaking is an unusual feature for the Sunshine State in April and May – typically the middle of the state's dry season.

However, some places could see too much - too quickly, bringing a flood threat.

Happening Now

The map below shows where scattered showers and thunderstorms are happening right now in and near Florida.

So far this week, parts of the Sunshine State have picked up 2 to 6 inches of rain, though many other areas have seen less than an inch of rain.

On Tuesday, a severe thunderstorm with high winds damaged two homes in the northwest Miami suburb of Hialeah.

Forecast Timing

These locally heavy downpours are happening due to upper-level disturbances drifting over the state from the Gulf as a stationary front hangs out.

This setup should remain in place through Thursday, before drier air arrives Friday. Fortunately, any weekend or spring break plans won’t be impacted.

How Much More Rain?

The highest additional totals are expected across the East Coast of Florida, including Miami, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach and Daytona Beach.

Additional amounts over an inch are expected generally from the Space Coast to the Everglades. But should slow-moving storms move over the same areas, we could see isolated totals over 5 inches.

Some places could see rapid rain rates of 1 to 2 inches per hour. Flooding is possible, especially in urban areas.

Lighter additional amounts are expected, in general, on the West Coast, and little or no additional rain is expected in the Florida Panhandle.

Much Needed Relief

Florida is in one of its worst droughts this century. Almost 80% of the state is covered in "extreme" drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor analysis. That's the most widespread "extreme" drought this century in the analysis dating to 2000.

Parts of northern Florida are in exceptional drought, the highest Drought Monitor category. That's only the sixth time this century this top-level drought was in place over at least parts of the state, including droughts in late 2025, 2012, 2011, 2001 and 2000.

Tallahassee, Florida, has only seen 6.66 inches of rainfall this year. Their average year-to-date for this time of year is more than double that at almost 15 inches. Cities like Jacksonville, Orlando and Daytona Beach are all running well below average as well.

Drought-stricken soil doesn’t handle fast rainfall very well. It needs steady rain to be able to chip away at the drought. Should rain fall too quickly, it just leads to runoff and eventually flooding.

At least two feet of rain is needed to completely wipe out the drought over the next three months, or over 40 inches by the end of the rainy season, which arrives in October.

Here’s to hoping that the rainfall is widespread and that rates remain at levels where the soil can actually benefit from the rain.

Rob Shackelford is a meteorologist and climate scientist at weather.com. He received his undergraduate and master’s degrees from the University of Georgia studying meteorology and experimenting with alternative hurricane forecasting tools.