Rain Stays in the Forecast For a Few More Days

LAKELAND | It will be rainy today and through the weekend, but few in Polk County would likely complain.

Lakeland Linder Regional Airport recorded 1.03 inches of rain from 4 p.m. Wednesday until 4 p.m. Thursday. With January half over, it's the first appreciable rainfall in the county for 2008.

Rainfall in Winter Haven was 1.05 inches, and Bartow recorded .94 inches Thursday, according to the National Weather Service in Ruskin.

More rain was expected during the night and early today.

The cold front that brought the moisture is predicted to stall over Central Florida and bring scattered showers today, with a 40 percent chance of rain, said Weather Service forecaster Tony Reynes. Saturday's chances will go to 60 percent.

"If the front pushes slightly to the north as we expect on Saturday, we will receive southerly winds and that will increase the chance of showers with the moist air coming in from the Gulf," Reynes said.

Until Wednesday night and Thursday, Lakeland had recorded only one-tenth of an inch for the first 16 days of the year, putting it 1.83 inches below normal for a normally dry month, Reynes said.

The rain lowered the drought index for Polk County a little, but it still remained in the mid-danger level, said Carrie Kotal, information officer for the Lakeland District of the Division of Forestry. The drought index went from 574 to 513.

"What it will do is green up the vegetation, but if we don't get any appreciable rain in the next few weeks, there will be dry tinder. It was good we got this amount of rain, and it may have tamped down the Lake Wales fire some, but it has to keep up," she said.

It didn't have much effect on the muck fire along Interstate 4 that may have been a contributing factor in the massive fatal vehicle crashes last week. That one is still being referred to as "open" and is still being covered by the division.

"It's a muck fire and will continue burning until we receive a huge amount of rain or until it hits sand," Kotal said.

The effect of the latest rainfall was almost indiscernible in the levels of the Chain of Lakes in Central Polk. Roger Griffiths director of the Lake Region Lakes Management District said he recorded an inch of rainfall at his house during the night, but the lakes didn't rise much.

Lake Shipp went from 128.64 feet above sea level to 128.76 feet.

"It probably did little to help the lakes, but anything certainly is better than nothing," Griffiths said.

[ Bill Rufty can be reached at 802-7523 or bill.rufty@theledger.com ]