Drought Map US – Latest Drought Updates For The United States

79 Comments

1. Living in the Sierra Nevada’s my biggest drought concern is fire. I have noticed that steams that should be running full bore right now due to snow melt are not. Snow pack this year was only 61% of normal so things are going to dry out quick

   1. Seriously! We are near Fresno, with the Creek Fire last year and hardly any snow/rain this year the fire season is going to be brutal.

   2. And 4 months after I posted this we had the caldor fire. I was evacuated for 14 days but my home didn’t get hit.

      There were a total of 25 thousand people affected. The only bright spot was watching the local community come together to help each other. I could write an article on just that.

2. This is relative drought by location. So if there is usually 30 inches of water in a year and you only get 20, that’s going to show up as a drought.

   I always laugh when an area goes without rain for a WEEK and it’s panicsville (one guy was blaming the failure of his potatoes on going without rain for a week). But this is relative drought. The plants and animals in the area are used to that much rain. The hydrology cycles depend on it and are adjusted to it. If we got 20 inches of annual rain here, there would be massive flooding and other problems.

   I am working on transitioning to dry farming, relying only on the annual precipitation, but we’ve gotten far less water this winter than we normally do. So the water bank I could normally rely on just isn’t there. The soil is already dry six inches down, so seeds and seedlings need to be watered when they’re first put in. That’s going to make a difference in their development and later drought tolerance.

3. Some times it gets so dry the creek only runs 3 days a week! :)

   Seriously when we have a drought fires are my main concern. There is a lot of fuel on the ground from the hurricanes this past year.

4. Another resource that might be useful: wcc.sc.egov.usda.gov/reports/UpdateReport.html

5. Have been in Western Colorado now for 13 years. The majority of those years have had drought. Average moisture for our area is listed as 8″ annually. Last several of years we have had less than 5″. Very thankful for really well managed irrigation system out of the high Rockies. My water rights are tied to the land, so many shares for so many acres. I find that i have enough water if i leave a chunk of ground fallow and use my water on the rest of my ground. Thankfully the grapes are really deep rooted, and by stingy application of water over the years, i have forced them to put roots down deep, so they now need no surface irrigation. Fruit trees are another matter, and i have to water them every month, even in winter. You learn to adapt to the dry climate. Another drought year? yup, and a 40% reduction in irrigation water, yup, got it covered. New comers have a hard time understand all this, so you kinda have to help them out. They see water in the canals and think we are all good, nope. that water is ear-marked for crops and not for your lawn. We have a saying here, “Whiskey is for drinking, water is for fighting over”. gonna be a long summer.

6. Reply to poorman and California (Adam): I fought fires in my younger years in your general area’s of operation. ( Sierra Nevada Mountains above Fresno ). Fire is no joke and you both may need to be prepared for possible bug-out plans and evacuation if/when the fires get to be too big and fast moving. Fighting fire is young person’s work and I left that field long ago.

   I moved to the place I currently live because my wife and I both got tired of living life under a constant state of drought. Natural resources and wildlife are the absolute last priority when it comes to budgeting of state and federal tax dollars. On the ground, it meant lower lake levels and massive fish die-offs. In the backcountry, it meant finding dead piglets that were too short to drink out of cattle troughs. All animals need water in which to live and California’s answer was to drill their wells deeper for both cities and farms and ranches. After doing this for decades, the only farms and ranches that could afford to drill very deep were the big outfits. ( go big or go home.). It was around 100 years ago that California began building pipelines and canal systems to ship water from other areas to LA.

   1. I live in SoCal, and know what you mean about the continual drought here in CA. Our local water district is already saying they’re gonna raise already high rates again. Now the rotten governor who is responsible for this mess is crying about it. It was reported that officials here have been releasing billions of gallons from our reservoirs.

7. Drought stories continued: usually 3 years into a drought, the seasonal water sources in the back country would slow to a trickle then dry up completely. At that point, the animals that live in the brush have to leave in order to drink/”water-up”. While this may be a boon to hunters ( staking out and setting up your hide near a watering hole.). It becomes sad when depredation permits are issued because the animals are drinking the irrigation water, eating and destroying crops. This leads to the death of wildlife on an industrial scale: Shooting deer on the edges of cultivated fields and golf courses, Black bears breaking into gas stations and drinking the water near the car wash stations. Many end up getting killed by fast moving automobiles at night. ( only thing that reflects light on a black bear is their eyes ). Cougars being hit by automobiles and shot behind shopping centers within 500 feet of a school zone.

   Drought is miserable to live under. If you relocate to another region, please take drought forecasting seriously and plan accordingly. Animals follow the water and living in a dry area will mean closer-than-expected encounters with wildlife.

   1. We just sold our house and were looking for property to build on. One site had a 980ft deep well and only produced 4gpm. CalFire would have made us put in storage tanks just to build a house. We are just renting now in an ag area until we find our next house to buy. We have no idea where to move, ideally a “free” state. What climate would you suggest?

      1. You could look on the web for land and homes ( at Zillow) in the areas not on the drought list in the states you like…but consider the problems of climate and natural disasters that perpetuate the region. I live in Northern Minnesota, land o Lakes, where I am surrounded by lakes and forests and activities if you like the north,… low housing costs, low homestead taxes, no riots, and low population. No hurricanes, no earthquakes, and tornadoes virtually nil, I can run naked on my land and no one would know, that’s about as free as I can get.

         1. Same same in central WI.
            Northern MINN.. can’t riot in the cold, it’s unpleasant and may well be too much like actual work.
            Gots ta have that A/C and politicians that care about their own rear ends more than yours.

8. Hey Mr. Ken, good work as usual. Here in North Central Florida we always seem to get the rain that we need. I guess it helps to be stuck out with water on both sides.

   Don’t mean to break the rules, but haven’t been able to get to the Attack On Liberty site today?

9. I’m reading this during a thunderstorm. No drought here in Missouri!

10. Some of the grain states look to be in the drought. shhhh, buy grain

11. I’m looking at this apr 6 21 it says abnormally dry.

    We’re in a 4 day drizzle with occasional medium to hard rains.
    It has not been very wet or dry here, the spring in central WI was very mild this year.
    Perfect for digging/tilling and planting.
    Some of the farmers are getting a head start.

    Historical data says the south west has been a desert for hundreds of years at a time so? I don’t see a big deal.
    People throughout history have intentionally moved into hostile area’s and climates and get all bent when it reverts to a completely normal state that’s less nice then when they moved in?
    Typical human stupidity.

12. Last year was horrible in the mountains of AZ. We are usually dry from April until we get the southern humid air that brings our summer monsoon rain in July. No monsoon due to La Niña weather patterns. Ended up going 8 months without rain. Stock tanks were kept full and we put out low water troughs for the smaller animals and birds. One blessing from no rain is no thunderstorms and no lightning caused fires. This summer will be scary if we get our “normal” precipitation…lots of dead vegetation from last year will burn like gas soaked kindling. We have a fire evacuation plan in place and empty cages ready for the chickens, rabbits, dogs and cats. AZ lost a Hot Shot crew a number of years ago so we take the threat of fire very seriously.

13. I remember moving to the farm ( so eastern So Dak ) in 1957 and on that farm were three major lakes on 320 ac, for about 3 to 4 yrs, Dad would get some really nice hay from those 3 lakes at first, but once the rain came and the water start filling the lakes up to the point where we couldn’t farm them any more. In 1959, we put a corner post in near the edge of the lake that is on top of the hill ( appos 5 to 8 acres, an old telephone pole was put appox 30 ft out into the dry lake bed at that time ) that stuck up about 8 feet out the ground. Last fall that corner post only had appox 2 feet sticking up out of the water, this spring there is maybe another 2 to 3 feet exposed now.But there is still appox 2 to 3 ft of water in that 20 ac lake ( there is no drainage for that lake ). will it drain and dry out, yeah, someday in the future when the rain cycle changes even more to a dryer rain cycle. Next year? 5 years? Good question

14. Another thing that comes to mind, the drain tiling by the farmers in the upper midwest to get rid of excess ground water ( my brother in law lives in nw iowa and has tiled just about everything he has ). when I ask him about the retaining water in the soil, his answer was that the rain will always come on time ( last year they didn’t come on time, but he still got a crop, but not like usual ). I remember my Dad and grandfather and uncles telling and talking about the ” dirty ” thirtes and when the rains stopped and how long it was before they started to have any rain of any amount, how dark it would be at noon, that you thought it was night time.No matter how well you would close up your house, you would still have a layer of dust and dirt every where in your house. So with all of this tiling by farmers what is the future of us and farming? What is the answer? Good question, only the future can answer that.

    1. Alfie – agree on the drain tile. Most say so the soil dries out so they can get in the field. While true, you are correct that it is draining the subsoil moisture…and nutrients. Long term won’t be good. Farming ground that shouldn’t be? Govt wants their $$, thus have to pay the bills somehow, but I don’t believe tiling is the be all end all and will have long term consequences.

15. Make that NRP. LOL I was pretty close…I got all the letters right!

    1. Crow bait,
       I always think I’m gonna make that mistake,
       NRP, NPR

    2. My BIL said the other day he gets his “science” information from NPR–I nearly laughed, for several obvious reasons.

       1. Now that’s funny!!

16. Crow Bait,
    Yeah, prescribed burn on our side of the border from NRP. We do a lot of that here, probably could do more. It is good forest/woodland management to get rid of dense fuels in those areas now, when the fires can be controlled rather than summer in the middle of severe drought. I’m sure NRP has his TP horde secured well, besides, his side of the border is mostly sage/scrub land, not forests.

17. To Anony Mee, I had not realized one of the images above was broken. I fixed it, updated with a auto-loading current image. Thanks.

18. Thanks for info, its spot on for our area

19. Where’d you get that “Percent Area of the United States in Severe and Extreme Drought” graph?

    1. InterestPiqued, University of Lincoln Nebraska. . . . droughtmonitor.unl.edu/

       1. I saw that PP presentation from what seems like a freshman level Earth science class.
          If you can’t see the problem I won’t ruin it for you. Believe what you like.

20. – Currently, our area is listed as exceptional drought. We are also supposed to suffer a third in a row La Nina, meaning our drought is expected to continue for next year. There is now a great deal of concern about our underground aquifer, as it is very slow to recharge (At one time, it was considered to be “fossil water”). Every newspaper in the area has a note somewhere to “Pray for Rain”.

    In the 1880’s one town near here was named for circumstances after a lost cowboy died and his friends tried to bury him. The graves they tried to dig kept filling up with water. Ironically, he died of thirst. Hence the town of Shallowater.

    There is a lot of truth to the expression, “Whiskey’s for drinking, water is for fightin’ over!”
    – Papa S.

    1. Papa Smurf,
       Is that the Ogallala aquifer?

       1. – Yep, it is.

          – Papa

          1. Papa Smurf
             If I recall correctly didn’t T Boone Pickens try to either purchase or acquire as much land to control that underground natural water source?

          2. AC,
             Yes, a “water developer”, who is pumping and selling water to cities, depleting the groundwater for others. If you research the Ogalalla aquifer, look at depletion maps, you will see how the various state groundwater laws affect withdrawal. Texas allows groundwater pumping with little or no restriction (similar to Cali), and it shows in the rapid depletion of the Ogalalla water table in that state. Colorado remains near neutral, as withdrawals are controlled to try and match recharge from its Playa system (Colorado tied surface and grounwater law decades ago). Farther north, the Dakotas do the same and have actually increased storage by recharge systems. The Ogalalla aquifer can be recharged in many areas, unlike California’s central valley aquifer where continued pumping causes it to compress and destroy recharge potential. Sorry, touchy point with me.

21. During one Nebraska drought with very dry winters, my grandfather commented that at least they got snow in the winter during the dirty 30s. Large dams were never going to be full in the future, it was said. Within several years, dams were over full and there was flooding.

    I remember a period of time in the late 70s walking around barefoot in several inches of powdered topsoil in the summer in central Nebraska.

    I do believe there are short, medium and long weather cycles. Have the current droughts been compared to the 30s?

    I do understand some farming practices at that time exacerbated the effects like dust storms.

22. Our area is in D3 for extreme drought right now. Daughter lost her well two days before we lost ours. She has lived there for 25 years and never lost her well. One year they went away for the weekend and their kitten turned on the faucet in the tub, where they estimated the water ran continuously for two days, but never lost the well. Talked to neighbors yesterday and they too are without water. Now with the town spring closed and stores struggling to keep up with the demand for water I am concerned with things getting desperate.

    1. Peanut,
       Sorry to hear of your well drying up. Are you in the mountains, Plains, or desert region? Drilling the wells deeper might be an option, but expensive and not always successful. I’d suggest you call your local State representative and see if they can’t arrange to have your area designated in emergency drought. Maybe they then they can arrange to have water hauled in, and maybe get emergency funds to have the municipal well drilled deeper. Prayers will be said for you over this.

    2. Peanut
       I posted to you on the open section, am sorry to hear this news, understand your concern.
       Did not know about your daughters well also going down.
       Since this matter came up, I did a check on your well and your daughters. The data that I have gathered neither of your wells were drilled on what is termed ‘ a live stream’.

       1. AC,
          Sounds like a ‘perched water table’ to me. Limited volume. Do you see anything deeper? Or are they in a highly fractured area?

          1. Thanks Minerjim, my well is 500′ deep as it is, not sure how much deeper they can go. I have considered having another well put in, but don’t have that kind of money right now.

          2. Peanut,
             I get you on the $$ thing. I’ll mention another possible fix, but it depends on your well geology. That is having a fresh water fracking done on the well. This could give you increase in water under the right circumstances. I’ve seen it done on the Front Range of the Rockies with good success. Maybe something to look into in the future, it’s cheaper than drilling a new well. Hopefully your local govt is on the ball and getting some emergency drought funds from the state to improve the municipal spring in short order.

          3. Thanks Minerjim, we did discuss fracking the last time we lost our well, however they could not do it because the electrical lines were directly over our well and their equipment was too tall.

          4. Peanut,
             Just my input.you need to establish direct contact with AC: if anyone on this planet can help you- she can.
             She took a methane stream from my well and repaired connections of calcification’s on my well pump – in the well.all from thousands of miles away.

       2. Thanks AC.

          1. Peanut
             I will give you an answer to your question and many others out there who have the same thoughts.
             What does one do when their well was ‘not’ drilled on a ‘live stream’ of water. Most give in and have a well driller come out to put a new well in for them. Yet, the next question that arises is what the cost of such an endeavor? It is expensive for those who believe they need a ‘new’ well.
             How many of you are aware that an educated/trained dowser (master) can move live streams of water on the person’s land or from a parcel map drawn up by the owner? 🤔
             It must be water that is transferrable into a well, but that is another set of rules which we go by-fyi.

             As many do not believe in a diviner aka dowser aka water witch. Which we are referred to by those in the water trade business. I am a dowser aka diviner and have been in this field for over 20+ years.
             Let me inform ‘everyone’ that there are those who claim to be this gifted person but have not been through the classes which were taught, nor have they been trained by a ‘master’ in this field with hands on teaching. Do not wish any of you to be taken advantage of by said party-jic.

             Now for a piece of history, the original well on this property was only 100 feet deep when we purchased this land, and the gallons per minute were outstanding. The downfall was it was never drilled on a ‘live stream’ of water. Hopefully you will understand why I took my abilities one step farther, by being educated in that field of expertise.
             AC

          2. Hello AC,
             What can you tell me about the water table being so deep in Williams, AZ? I am interested in buying property but am feeling so discouraged by the water situation there.

          3. Ohioan
             First of all, I would need a better idea of where in Williams AZ you may be searching for water on a piece of land, as in N-S-E-W. It is of course a desert, and there by dry from what I have seen over the years passing through that area.
             Most folks have a “Petticoat Junction” style water tank. Which is built up in the air for gravity flow into their home or building which they reside in. I am not saying there is not potable water in that area. It will depend on where you happen to be looking at this time.
             If you can narrow it down for me with a better description of the location, I may be able to give you an idea IF that is worth your time.

23. Funny how I was just watching the Weather Channel about an hour ago and their map was very different fro the NOAA map. WX channel has the entire eastern seaboard from Maine to the Carolinas in severe drought, hahahahahaha!

24. We are in a drout out here, our area been especially dry, until this afternoon,
    So far we have gotten about 3 inches in 4 hours, still raining, hope it keeps going truthfully, we need it

    1. Kula,
       What is a drought in the Islands? No rain for two weeks? LOL. That 3″ you got in 4 hours today was about what we got here for the whole of last year. No kidding. I get what you mean though, it’s been drier there than normal. If you get too much rain, send some over our way. We get all giggly happy over even 1/4″.

       1. No, its been months, ranch areas feed really low, been selling off cattle, really hot temps, unusually hot and dry, our main water is surface catchment from streams, stream flow has been non existent to poor, even our area is incredibly dry, hard on farms. We are on water restrictions.

          1. Kula,
             Ouch. About as bad as our neck of the woods. You guys have any desalination systems running over there? Your description sound like the proverbial ” desert island”.

          2. Yea, not really a desert island, every other year it seems we end up like this, it is normally a dry place on most of it, on the north east side is lush tropical rain forest, the water for our area is surface catchment from that area, higher elevation, its been raining but not nearly enough, the biggest issue is too much development and insufficient infrastructure. Typical idgit government mis management.

    2. I recall, many years ago, when Mrs.J and I took a vacation to Kauai, I learned that it was reportedly one of the wettest places on earth (although the weather that week was fine). Also, there’s a mountain there that apparently gets about 500 inches of rain a year!

       1. Yep KJ,
          Mt Waialeale, supposed to be the wettest place on earth
          The state and islands have quite the array of microclimates, the main islands all range from bone dry maybe 1/2” a year to hundreds of inch a year swamps and forests, most of the islands have ditch systems built in the early 20th century that bring water to the arid sides from the wettest, all relics of the sugar plantations. It does still dry out occasionally though, nothing new, been doing this since before i was born, so yea, climate change my azz

          1. Kula,
             You mentioned that you get water from catchment systems and creeks. Your geology is obviously volcanic, with tight rock. Are many wells drilled over there? Would think that fractures and voids in the rock in certain areas would have water. Just curious.

          2. Not too many wells MinerJ
             Cost is wayyyy high, there are more and more though but primarily only municipal or very wealthy doing it. Familiar with a few private ones though and production on them is excellent,
             In some areas chemical contaminates are an issue, leftovers from the sugar plantations and pineapple, what used to be the sugar plantation has some huge deep wells, elevators running down to a big chamber that has tunnels running off for a few hundred feet, typically with huge 3phase pumps down in them, some have turned brackish from over pumping, theres issues

          3. Kulafarmer,
             Just wondering. Was thinking if you were on a mountainside, you could drill your own horizontal well and have a gravity fed water source. Even a small diameter (2″) well driven at a slight uphill slope might give you enough water in dry times if you could put it into A cistern. As for water quality, you can always install a small Reverse Osmosis unit and have fresh drinking water. Just thinking out loud.

          4. MinerJ
             Good idea but theres a lot if rock here, a lot of rock, theres a seep in the gulch by my house, at one time i think was a full on spring but years of heavy water have changed the spot, still drips a lot though,

          5. Kulafarmer,
             The forming of a gulch would tend to indicate a fracture system in the rock. Likely the fractures on the surface have been plugged with sediments washed into them. They make small, gas powered core drills that could easily drill horizontally, say into a vertical waterfall ledge. You may be able to tap those fractures further back into the mountain with a 1″ hole and “rejuvinate” that spring. From what AC sees, there may be an untapped water source there. Just food for thought with all your spare time an all.lol.

          6. Minerjim
             Just read your last posting…could not suppress the laughter. 😂

          7. AC,
             Laughter? Even though I am a classically trained hydrology engineer, over the years I have come to respect some people who locate water with ” alternative methods” than “scientific” ones. You are one of them. Groundwater is more of an art than science in many cases. Many times my gut and “voodoo science” have proven right over classical engineer’s assessments. Just trying to learn the craft of hydrology from all sides.

    3. Kula. Keep filling those catchment tanks, can’t remember are you on the big island?

25. We had so much rain this past winter, spring, and early summer we wondered if real summer would ever come. We’ve had a few dry weeks now, with some hot sunny days. Usually we get rain all summer, every few days. Not this year. Mostly overcast until recently. Was bright and very hot earlier today but clouds moved in and dropped the temp more than 20 degrees. No pollinators in the spring so no fruit set on the trees. We do have some native bees out now and looks like a good blackberry harvest coming on. Saw my first bald faced hornets today. Only a couple yellow jackets so far this year. They can stay away as they make processing pig scraps from the greengrocers a real problem. Tomorrow is forecast to be cloudy and dark. Feels like lessons to be learned as we get deeper into this GSM.

    1. Anony Mee, Yes, we had a very wet, dark year. I wondered if spring would ever end. It was probably the worst I’ve ever endured in all my years here, which are many. It was enough to convince some friends and family to move to AZ. Idk how they will survive if the drought now is a harbinger of things to come.

       Now that I see the drought as more of a worldwide phenomena, I’m more content to be in an area that, so far, has ample rain and water supplies. It is making me think harder about how to harness all our resources. Each year brings new challenges.

       1. SS, Thank you. We already have people from the Seattle area and California moving into our area, forcing up the price of homes to the point that our local citizens can’t buy them. We’re in the middle of a building boom with new apartment buildings and housing developments going up wherever they can fit them in. It’s distressing because it is already negatively impacting our quality of life. No thought has been given to increasing infrastructure such as roads and water supply and even schools. Our space is finite due to all the waterways.

          We have researched other areas to move to, but those which were attractive to us have had such a huge influx of people in the past few years, it seems that most are suffering from the same growing pains that we are. But, if we stay here, we have land, water, family, friends, church community, and we know this area well. The widespread drought was another reason to reconsider certain areas.

          I tend to think if the drought persists, governments will limit water use, but will try to ensure their people have drinking water. I can’t imagine a warm welcome for any hordes coming here thinking they’re just going to take from others. That won’t settle well anywhere. But, if it’s my niece or friend getting out of AZ, I would help in a heartbeat. It’s a good reminder of what our most precious resources are.

26. Minerjim,
    That four inches was probably my island not Kula’s, Maui is drought ridden every year. Weather pattern.

27. God’s country has been very rainy.
    ROLL TIDE!!

    1. BamaMan,
       yeaaa buddy, the tide has been rolling in here for 3 weeks now with no end in sight. i have lost my winter garden.
       take care

28. Here in the Ohio River Valley we have been getting much more than average rain for the last 4 years . Even in July/August typically our two driest months the rains have been consistently frequent with many thunderstorms which cause tons of nitrogen to fall along with the rain. The whole state looks like an Amazon River Valley . Weeds in my goat pasture which I never mow because goats eat weeds , heh , are 15 to 16 feet tall . The Locust trees have pods 16″ long already and they are so heavy the branches are drooping . The heavy pods have in past years indicated a very serious winter coming next . I’m cutting much more firewood this year because of that sign from Ma Nature .

29. Has anyone seen any research or reporting on the effects of Chinese cloud seeding on our drought situation?

    1. MamaLark,
       No, I have not. Don’t think you will see any either. China is half a world away from the USA, and a big ocean in between. That ocean provides all of moisture to the atmosphere. In short, the cloud seeding has local effect on atmospheric moisture in China. Very little effect on us, or our droughts. Just my humble opinion as a hydrology engineer.

       1. That’s good to know. Thanks.

    2. MamaLark, Modern Grand Solar Minimum got underway end of 2019/beginning of 2020 as we started solar cycle 25. Worst of it is predicted to be 2028 through 2032 as we move into SC 26 followed by perhaps 10 more years of hardship until the GSM ends in 2053 with the advent of SC 28. Unexpected and severe drought in diverse places is a hallmark of GSMs. As are floods, early winters, late springs, increasing cloudiness, short harvests, crop failures, pestilence, epidemics, increased volcanism, famine, starvation, civil unrest, and war. Check out Ice Age Farmer’s compendium of events during the Maunder Minimum. iceagefarmer.com/wiki/History:_Extreme_Weather_during_the_Maunder_Minimum

30. Ken J.
    Not sure if I have ever told you the photo of the lake with no water and cropped trees looks like a section of lake here in the valley.
    My first thought was ‘how in the world did he get that photo of this lake’? The slang term we refer to it is the ‘bathtub ring’.

    1. AC, I took that photo on our last trip to NoCal ‘Trinity Lake’ more than a decade ago. Probably 2009. They had been slowly draining Trinity to keep Whiskeytown Lake /reservoir full downstream… I’ll bet today, both lakes are pretty darn low.

31. Ohioan
    Sorry the correct call sign is AC not the little ac which is my fault. Or you can put in Antique Collector either one will work, as I answer to both of them.

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