The drought proving to have a stranglehold on Southwest Florida since February and barely satiated by the fourth-driest summer rainy season in state history, has returned more muscular than before.

Lee County re-enacted its ban against burning anything outdoors Monday, making it the 20th county in the state to activate such a restriction -- doubling the number with burn bans prior to the short respite the feeble summer showers brought.

In November alone, more than 1.7 million people living in counties along or near Southwest Florida’s Gulf Coast were plunged back into moderate drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor, as dry conditions creep south from the epicenter in the Panhandle and worsen.

Nearly the entire Gulf Coast of Florida is drought-stricken, with pockets deemed “extre

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