More than one-third of the total land area in the US is in some drought condition, with the areas in the most severe drought developing.
As of November 19, data from the US Drought Monitor revealed that 38 percent of the US—including Puerto Rico—is in moderate to extreme drought conditions.
While this was down from 41.7 percent the previous week, areas affected by “extreme drought” and “exceptional drought” increased slightly, from 4.1 percent to 4.2 percent.
National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln / United States Department of Agriculture / National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
This week, 35.01 percent of the U.S. and Puerto Rico are completely drought-free, with 26.96 percent in “abnormally dry” conditions, 23.44 percent affected by “moderate drought,” 10.38 percent in “severe drought,” and 3.68 percent in “extreme drought.” “. “and 0.54 percent in” drought conditions.
The previous week, 3.55 percent were in “extreme drought” and 0.56 in “exceptional drought.”
The drought map shows that the worst affected areas include West Texas, the Great Plains, and the Northeast.
“Abnormal droughts and droughts contracted or decreased in intensity in the Pacific Northwest, Great Plains south to the Upper Mississippi Valley, Lower Mississippi Valley to the Ohio Valley, and the central Appalachians to parts of the Mid-Atlantic Coast. Abnormal droughts or droughts increased or increased in intensity in some dry areas, including parts of Montana, Deep South Texas, the Southeast, and the rest of the Northeast,” NOAA explained in its weekly drought report.
Three months ago, as of August 20, 52.79 percent of the country was completely drought-free, with 27.11 percent in “normally dry” conditions. The remaining 20.1 percent of the country is in some form of drought, with 13.99 percent in “moderate drought,” 4.63 percent in “severe drought,” 1.31 percent in “extreme drought,” and 0.17 percent in “exceptional drought”.
According to NOAA, about 73.3 percent of the U.S. population — about 228 million people — lives in areas currently affected by drought or abnormally dry conditions.
Interestingly, California and other Southwestern states were the only ones affected by the drought, with the exception of southwestern Arizona. This comes after the region has experienced severe and prolonged drought in recent years, as a result of a “megadrought” considered one of the worst in more than 1,200 years. This megadrought has lasted for more than two decades—since the early 2000s—exacerbated by rising temperatures and decreasing rainfall.
“A megadrought is a drought that lasts two decades or more. The current SW megadrought began in 1999 and has been the longest drought in US history, and also the worst in at least 1,200 years. While previous droughts were usually caused by reduced rainfall, the SW megadrought that consistently as a product of warming temperatures as a decrease in rain and snow,” Jonathan Overpeck, dean of environmental studies at the University of Michigan, told Newsweek.
As a result, major reservoirs like Lake Mead and Lake Powell, which provide water for millions of people in the Southwest, have reached their lowest levels in recent months, leading the states of the Colorado River Valley to negotiate a cut in water allocations to manage. water supply is shrinking.
Drought in the Southwest is expected to continue or worsen due to ongoing climate change. Scientists predict more frequent and intense droughts, higher temperatures, and increased competition for dwindling water resources.
“We know that climate change as a result of human activities has created droughts and water shortages. This is due to changes in weather patterns, which are influenced by changes in the temperature of the oceans and atmosphere, partly because warmer air holds more This is one of the reasons why extreme weather is becoming more extreme – heavy rains can be more severe, and droughts can last longer,” Hannah Cloke, a professor of hydrology at the University of Reading in the UK, previously told Newsweek.
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