The discussion on drought and FL rainfall should probably be moved to another forum. Having said that, I'll add my own note: actually Florida is barely in a drought situation. Within the SE, much much more severe is the drought in areas that also happen to have many downed trees, wrecked by Katrina -- the MS Gulf Coast and SE LA. Drought conditions are monitored by CPC and they have a very telling "Drought Monitor" graphic on their home page. Things are so crispy crunchy there, that a downpour from a severe thunderstorm yesterday almost seemed to evaporate without any seeming effect on the ground at all.