a.) MEAN NUMBER OF DAYS PER MONTH WITH RAINFALL >0.01 INCH (.0254 cm) 



Source: U.S. Department of Commerce, 1975. 

 Period of Record: Variable (Minimum length of record, 11 years. 

 than 25 years.) 



Length of record at all but two stations greater 



b.) MEAN NUMBER OF DAYS PER MONTH WITH RAINFALL >0.10 INCH (.254 cm) 



Source: U.S. Department of Commerce, August 1976. 

 Period of Record: 1951-1974. 



Table 4. (adapted from Dames and Moore 1978). 



Figure 12. Average annual maximum 

 for one day rainfall 

 (adapted from Mac Vicar 

 1981). 



Drought is occasionally experi- 

 enced even during the "wet" season 

 (Bradley 1972). " The effect of 

 drought is aggravated or ameliorated 

 by variations of temperature which 

 affect transpiration, evaporation, 

 and soil moisture. One of the more 



noteworthy studies in this regard is 

 that of Gannon (1978). In attempt- 

 ing to model the daily sea breeze 

 circulation over the south Florida 

 peninsula, Gannon (1978) concludes 

 that developments on the land sur- 

 face such as urbanization and wet- 

 land drainage inadvertently modify 

 weather patterns by redistributing 

 rainfall via changes in the overall 

 daily heat budget. Soil moisture 

 and surface albedo (the ratio of 

 reflected radiation to total radia- 

 tion) are the two most important 

 factors influencing the strength of 

 the daily sea breeze circulation in 

 Gannon's model. Surface albedo in 

 turn is inversely related to soil 

 moisture; thus wetland drainage may 

 exert something of a self-accelerat- 

 ing effect on the daily hydrologic 

 cycle through: (1) lowering soil 

 moisture which itself changes the 

 heat budget and provides less mois- 

 ture for evapotranspiration; and 

 (2) increasing surface albedo which 

 even further increases daytime heat- 

 ing. The total removal of wetlands 



30 



