165 cm) over most of it (Raisz, 1964). Much 

 of the rain falls on the peninsula as summer 

 thundershowers that are brief but intense. One 

 effect is that streams that drain the peninsula 

 have pronounced summer and early fall maxi- 

 mum flows whereas the streams of north Florida 

 exhibit relatively uniform seasonal flow. The 

 difference is the result of Florida's position in 

 the transition zone between the tropical weather 

 of the Caribbean and the temperate weather of 

 the southeastern United States. 



Tables 3-1 through 3-51 record discharge of 

 all gaged streams that flow into Florida's west 

 coast estuaries. The data are from water sup- 

 ply publications of the U.S. Geological Survey. 

 In each table the data down to the "Mean" line 

 were copied exactly as printed in U.S. Geological 

 Survey publications. We calculated the monthly 

 means, expressing results to the nearest tenth 

 when the mean fell from 10.0 to 99.9, and to the 

 nearest hundredth when the mean fell from 1.00 

 to 9.99. When the mean was greater than 99.9, 

 we expressed results to the nearest whole num- 

 ber. The number in the lower right corner of 

 each table (under "The year" and to the right 

 of "Mean") is the mean of "The year" column, 

 not the "Mean" line; it differs slightly from the 

 number calculated by averaging monthly means 

 because individual figures in "The year" column 

 are calculated from the sum of daily discharges 

 divided by 365, not from the sum of monthly 

 mean discharges divided by 12. 



Table 3-52 summarizes the discharge of all 

 west coast streams including pertinent springs 

 studied by Ferguson et al. (1947). The table 

 is divided into eight arbitrary segments to dem- 

 onstrate regional differences of water supply. 

 That of north Florida is much greater than that 

 of central and south Florida (Fig. 33). The 

 Apalachicola, Suwannee, Choctawhatchee and 

 Escambia Rivers discharge nearly 70 percent of 

 the total runoff; the Apalachicola River alone 

 accounts for about 35 percent. Its drainage area 

 extends north through Georgia past the Tennes- 

 see line. The Suwannee River, with some of its 

 headwaters in the Okefenokee Swamp of south- 

 eastern Georgia, accounts for nearly 15 percent 

 of the total flow. 



Three recently published maps depict the mean 

 flow to the sea of all U.S. streams (Wilson, 1967) , 

 the mean flow of Florida streams (Kenner, 

 Hampton, and Conover, 1969), and the seasonal 



Figure 33. — Mean discharge of the principal gaged 

 streams of the Florida west coast. Liters per second = 

 cubic feet per second X 28.3. (Data from water supply 

 publications of the U.S. Geological Survey.) 



flow of Florida streams (Kenner, 1969). 

 were consulted but not used directly. 



WATER TEMPERATURE 



They 



Only if daily measurements have been made 

 for several years can the water temperature 

 characteristics of a location be described with 

 confidence. Fortunately, the U.S. Coast and Ge- 

 odetic Survey began such measurements in the 

 1920's and the 1940's with the result that Key 

 West Harbor, Tampa Bay at St. Petersburg, 

 Cedar Key Harbor, and Pensacola Bay at Pen- 

 sacola are adequately characterized. Additional 

 historical data back to the 1870's are available 

 (Bumpus, 1957). 



The Key West measurements extended from 

 1940 to 1962, those at St. Petersburg from 1947 

 to 1962, those at Cedar Key from 1922 to 1926 

 and from 1945 to 1962, and those at Pensacola 

 from 1924 to 1962 (U.S. Coast and Geodetic 

 Survey, 1965). Although Key West is several 

 miles west of Florida Bay, we assume that its 

 water temperature is about the same as that at 

 southwestern Florida Bay. Minimum surface 

 water temperatures were 57.0°F (13.9°C) at Key 

 West, 52.3°F (11.3°C) at St. Petersburg, 41.0°F 

 (5.0°C) at Cedar Key, and 39.9°F (4.4°C) at 

 Pensacola. Maxima were about the same at all 



55 



