Another suspected consequence of climate change is enhanced climate variability, possibly bringing on more frequent and severe extreme events , such as flooding and drought. However, precipitation in central to northern Florida has been suppressed for the period beginning in late March to the end of June due to an intense ridge of high pressure, with some locations, such as Melbourne, receiving only a few percent of normal precipitation for the period. Temperatures for the same period have been exceptionally warm. These climatic conditions were immediately followed by a severe drought during the late spring and early summer, which is normally the beginning of the wet season . The recent period of extended daylight, intense sunshine, and unusually hot dry weather, caused the short rooted under-story to rapidly dry out, and serve as fuel for the pervasive fires throughout Florida.
Climatic data indicates that the such extreme events are increasing over the United States.
Several indices to describe drought have been developed which respond differently to weather and climate conditions and thus might have different implications concerning soil moisture, vegetation, and water supply. Other processes have longer time scales, typically several months, such as the rate at which shallow wells, small ponds, and smaller rivers become drier or wetter. Some processes have much longer time scales, such as the rate at which major reservoirs, or aquifers, or large natural bodies of water rise and fall, and the time scale of these variations is on the order of several years. During May soil moisture continued to decrease and all three zones were excessively dry by the end of the month. Conditions had only worsened through June 20th.