Current Impacts
To see or report current drought impacts, please visit the Drought Impacts Toolkit, where you can find impacts from media in the Drought Impact Reporter and from citizen scientists and other volunteer observers under Condition Monitoring Observations.
Historic Impacts
No two states have the same experience during a drought. Below are examples of some of the impacts experienced in Arizona in the past. The process for developing this example impact table is described in Noel, M., Bathke, D., Fuchs, B., Gutzmer, D., Haigh, T., Hayes, M., Poděbradská, M., Shield, C., Smith, K. and Svoboda, M., 2020. Linking drought impacts to drought severity at the state level. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 101(8), pp.E1312-E1321. doi: 10.1175/BAMS-D-19-0067.1. To view a more complete record, and to filter impacts by drought severity, sector and season, check out the interactive State Impacts Tool.
Category | Examples of historically observed impacts |
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D0 | Fire risk increases |
Forage is limited; soil is dry |
D1 | Plants are stressed; hillsides are unusually brown |
Stock ponds and creeks are nearly dry; some springs are dry |
D2 | Fire danger is high; fire crews are mobilizing |
Little forage remains for wildlife; pine trees are losing needles |
Water and feed are inadequate for livestock |
D3 | Fire preparedness increases; fire restrictions are implemented early |
Livestock do not have adequate water; runoff is short; conditions are dusty |
Native plants are stressed |
Ranching operations are affected |
Skiing tourism is low; snowpack is extremely low |
Wildlife encroach on developed areas in search of food and water |
D4 | Fire restrictions increase; large fires occur year-round |
Lakes, ponds, and streams are dry |
Vegetation green-up is poor; native plants are dying |