Sparse Rainy-Season Rainfall Keeps Swamp Water Levels Lower than Average

It is dry, but it has been drier. Audubon’s conservation team has been tracking rainfall and water-level data at Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary for 60 years and reports that we received slightly more than one-tenth of an inch of rain at the Sanctuary in November. This is six percent of the monthly average of two inches. From June through November 2025, we recorded 21 percent less rain than the average for this time of year—it is the fifth-driest November since 1996.

The “B Gauge” currently shows two feet of water on the ground—a milestone we’ve reached in late January in recent decades, but before the year 2000, we didn’t dry down to this level until mid-April. While December’s cooler weather is helping slow the rate of recession, water levels are nearing the low end of our historical average.