Drought conditions continue to affect southwest Florida.
The FAWN weather station at Immokalee recorded no precipitation over the past two weeks. Forecasters are calling March, the driest March in over a quarter century. Much of the area has seen less than an inch of rain since January, while the rest of the region has seen little more. Abnormally dry weather has kept many foliar diseases at relatively low levels. The extremely dry conditions that have prevailed since January have resulted in a significant drop in water tables and some growers are reporting difficulty in maintaining adequate soil moisture with resulting plant stress, lowered yields and fruit quality.