The weather in The Villages
 

I moved to The Villages in June of last year. One of the things that I noticed was that, about 4 PM every day, we had torrential rains. It would pour for about 30 minutes and then stop. I remember seeing the water running off the neighbor's house (no gutters) and water accumulating in the flower beds. The rain frequently had loud thunder and lightning.

This summer, the rain has been much less frequent. I don't think we have had more than a handful of torrential rains all summer. If we do get rain, it is usually a quick sprinkle - about .1 inch or less.

My question is - which is the typical weather - last year or this year?

Both... ;)

Even years not as much rain as odd years apparently

Some years are wet and others not so much. The next 6 weeks or so are the highest likelihood of a major tropical storm or two that could dump several inches or more of rain in a hurry. We are coming up on the 5 year anniversary of Hurricane Irma, when the golf courses were under water for a couple of weeks, you just never know?

Historical data
 

Below are two links to weather data for Orlando. The first being the historical climate which shows that in June, July and August the average is about 24 inches total for those three months, with June being the most by a little bit.
The second link is to the records for 2022 so far. I can't seem to find a total accumulation displayed by month, but if you click on June and July it shows bars for recorded rain. Just by looking at them it does appear that this year is lower than the average. Note that historical weather is referred to as "average", not "normal" as it takes both high and low years to produce an average. If someone can find a monthly accumulation chart for this year, it would be interesting.

Climate Orlando - Florida and Weather averages Orlando

Summer 2022 Historical Weather at Orlando International Airport, Florida, United States - Weather Spark

It's normally a lot wetter this time of year, but this year it's been on the dry side.

Some people want you to believe they can control the weather but only one can do that.

I watch the water hole that parallels the first fairway on el Diablo. I've seen water so high in it that the culvert openings are under water. This year, not so much. The shoreline looks like a picture of Lake Mead.

I can control the weather. All I have to do is wash my car and it rains...

Summer rain in Florida is very localized. In Orlando area they are/were down 7 inches from normal and Leesburg was 9 inches up. Agree less rain than last year in Spanish Springs area, but Leesburg(9 miles away) is above average.

I couldn't find a monthly accumulation chart for Orlando for 2022 but I saw an article from July 21 which said that Orlando has a rain deficit of 5.06 inches this year.

I found the average rainfall for Orlando

Jan. 2.74
Feb. 2.83
Mar. 3.79
Apr. 2.49
May 3.30
Jun 8.74
Jul 7.10
Aug 7.82
Sept. 6.02
Oct. 3.29
Nov. 2.42
Dec. 2.63

I like to send my wife out to do a rain dance. Sometimes it even rains:pepper2:

Impressive that you have that much authority, to send her out to dance………

I found the average rainfall for Orlando. The second column is actual rainfall in 2022.

Jan. 2.74 2022 .92
Feb. 2.83 2022 .71
Mar. 3.79 2022 5.76
Apr. 2.49 2022 5.20
May 3.30 2022 2.15
Jun 8.74 2022 4.61
Jul 7.10 2022 4.91
Aug 7.82 2022 4.26

I tried to put these in separate columns but couldn't figure out how to do it.

According to my calculations, the average rainfall at this time is about 34.41 (We are only half way through August so I cut the monthly total down by four inches) and we have 28.52 inches. March and April were above average and June and July have been below average.

I think this year more typical. When I moved to The Villages 6 years ago, I expected it to rain every afternoon, because that was the way it happened in Gainesville when I attended graduate school there. In Gainesville, the afternoon rain was like clockwork. Not so in The Villages, even though it is only 65 miles away.

I am a native of south Florida. Growing up it se3med about every day around 4 we had what you described, thunder storms rolled in an lasted an hour or so. It was around this time of year and lasted a couple months.

Some years more than others.

Everyone Please! Go wash your car. My lawn is costing me a fortune on water. lol

Similar patterns every year. Not the same but close..

Yes.

it's all up to the Gulf and Atlantic 'breezes' and where they meet. That varies, and being that we are Central Florida it's pretty much the main stage for the action. While it's far better than Tampa, I've been through those and they get hit real hard most times. Our 'hits' are nasty, sometimes they will skirt by, but when the storm arrives it's a hard one.

This is Florida - afternoon rain in the summer pretty much everywhere except a couple locations. We used to live by the Space Center, overall we had far less rain than central FL. Tampa area - while it gets hit hard when it does rain - it doesn't all that often.

It's all about location, but in the mean time - get used to the rain - get gutters, your house will be better off, and know that your summer day will have a break in it on a regular basis

You'll get used to reading the sky

Weather patterns are different here than many areas of the country. As someone stated, it's governed by the sea breezes from either side of the state. We used to be able to "read" the weather when we lived in the midwest. Dark skies meant it would rain soon and you could watch those clouds move in. The longer we've lived here, we've seen that it's patchy. It can be raining in SS or LSL but not further south. Yesterday (Wed) I was down near Brownwood and it was thundering nearly constantly with dark clouds. Had the car radio/weather on---they were telling where the storms were and where they were headed. As I drove home (north) the sky brightened. To us, it seems like Marion County gets a lot of "weather". We do listen to Orlando---but what happens there most likely won't here. What I don't get though is we're warned about thunder and lightening and to take cover but people don't adhere to those and keep golfing.

When I first moved to Florida many, many moons ago, the daily rains were what we used to set our watches & clocks. Although, if my memory serves me correctly, It was around 2:00pm. Anyway, we always need the rain here in Fl. If we did not have the daily rains, we would not have the humidity that Fl is so well know for during the summer. Have GREAT day!

The Villages has 70,000 residential air conditioners blowing hot air all day long. That creates a constant updraft that impacts the weather producing air passing over us every afternoon. Most often this hot air causes the rain clouds to dissipate; warm air holds onto moisture better than cooler air.
My theory at least.

Normal weather
 

Some say it is different this year because of Sahara dust/sand

you want rain in the afternoon...go out for a long walk without an umbrella

I wish I had been a weather forecaster....it doesn't make a darn bit of difference if your forecast is right or wrong.

If you predict rain and it doesn't happen...people think "thank goodness he was wrong"...and you get to blame changing weather patterns

if you predict rain and it happens...people think "well, they said it was going to rain" and your 'stock' goes way up

I lived in South Florida for 45 years and the late afternoon rain showers were
almost like clock work most of the time. The wind flow from the gulf or from
the atlantic have a big effect as well as the heating of the water in the Everglades.

Will we get snow this winter?

Weather
 

In the “not rainy season”, it rains every day. In the “rainy season”, it rains all day.

You have RAIN in your name.........................you should be happy!!!

:a040::a040:

Good observation and probably true.This dust was really bad last week. Sky was like a Procol Harum song Whiter shade of pale

This year in the not rainy season it hardly rained at all

There is still a ton of construction dust floating around... Will be for years to come...

Neither. Perfection was reached about 200 years ago, before the dumb humans started burning carbon to improve the standard human condition of abject poverty, and in their ignorance, created Global Warming. Now we're all doomed, so enjoy it while you can.

Or not.

Personally, I think weather is a chaotic system heavily influenced by the variable star we live close to, and therefore there is no such thing as "typical" weather. If you think this year is crazy, you should have been here 10,000 years ago! The ice cap extended all the way to Kansas, and it was so dry in Florida that you could walk to Cuba!

However, I have noticed that in the last century, Florida weather seems generally much more pleasant than Texas weather, which was one reason I moved here. I personally love the daily afternoon shower, whether it's a downpour or just a sprinkle. I think it has a lot to do with sea breezes and living 60 miles from two different coast lines.