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🌵States with the worst droughts

Drought conditions in US have wreaked havoc on the livelihoods of millions of people

Eliza Siegel, Stacker.com

Published: April 23, 2023 at 6:00 AM

Between 2000 and 2021, the Western U.S. experienced a megadrought that shattered the record for the driest 22-year span in the area since 800 C.E.

Nearly 20% of the drought conditions can be attributed to human-caused climate change, according to a study published in Nature Climate Change.

Droughts and megadroughts — periods of drought that last several years or decades — have occurred throughout history on every continent aside from Antarctica. In the past, droughts were mostly caused by changes in tropical ocean temperatures; however, scientists predict that the increasing frequency and severity of droughts experienced in the past century will only get worse as conditions produced by climate change — less precipitation and higher temperatures — grow more extreme.

Drought conditions in the U.S. have wreaked havoc on the livelihoods of millions of people. From water rationing in California to devastating agricultural losses in the Great Plains, droughts have major environmental, economic, and social consequences. In 2012, drought in the Midwest and Great Plains alone caused $14.5 billion in loss payments from the federal crop insurance program.

Stacker cited data from the U.S. Drought Monitor to identify the states with the worst droughts based on decade averages. States are ranked by the percentage of the area in any level of drought, with the percentage of the population experiencing drought serving as a first tiebreaker and the percentage of an area experiencing severe drought as a second tiebreaker. For states not currently experiencing drought conditions, the decade average served as a tiebreaker.

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The USDM categorizes drought conditions using a five-point scale ranging from “abnormally dry,” indicating some short-term crop dryness or a lingering water deficit, to “exceptional drought,” a serious condition involving a water emergency that leads to widespread crop/pasture losses.

The list also describes conditions that led to drought — or the lack thereof — in each state, while looking at the events leading up to the state’s change in drought status over the course of the year. The USDM data was collected between March 21 and 27 and was released on March 27, 2023.

Continue reading to learn which states experience the worst droughts.