A Little Rain Here, A Lot of Rain There…

LAKE WALES | The hit-and-miss nature of Florida's afternoon thunderstorms is being demonstrated almost daily in Polk County.

In a county that's the size of Delaware, the difference in rainfall totals can vary greatly.

Sunday was an example. In Lakeland, rainfall totaled about a quarter of an inch. In other parts of Polk County, the skies unloaded.

That is where the National Weather Service has its official rainfall gauge, so for the record that is how much rainfall Polk County received on Sunday.

But the Division of Forestry recorded 1.3 inches in the Green Swamp, 1 inch in Polk City, 1.5 inches at the Lake Wales Ridge State Forest in Southeast Polk and 1 inch in Dundee.

More than 2 inches were caught in the gauge in a Lake Wales resident's backyard, while a resident in Highland Park recorded more than 3 inches in his gauge. Those are unofficial readings, so they will not be counted toward the official total by the National Weather Service.

And even NWS has glitches from time to time, resulting in no record at all.

The service records rain in two locations in Polk County - Lakeland Linder Regional Airport, and Winter Haven's Gilbert Airport. But on Tuesday, Gilbert Airport had a power outtage and NWS wound up with no record of rain at all.

Recordings on any given day are already incomplete. For NWS, days end at 5 p.m. The rest of the night's rainfall is counted the following day. Thus, more rain likely fell after NWS counted 0.11 inches of rain Tuesday night.

At this time of year in Florida, it's not unusual to receive an inch of rain in one place, while no rain is recorded a few blocks away.

That could happen today, with a 60 percent chance of rain forecast and Thursday with a 50 percent chance.

Rainfall totals will depend on which cloud you happen to be under, if you're under any cloud.

[ Bill Bair can be reached at bill.bair@theledger.com or 863-676-7118. ]