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 experience the same set of impacts during a drought. We developed tables of impacts reported during past droughts in each state for each level of drought on the U.S. Drought Monitor. These state-specific possible impacts complement the general, national possible impacts column of the U.S. Drought Monitor Classification Scheme.
| Category | Historically observed impacts |
|---|
| D0 | Soil moisture declines; lawns turn brown |
| D1 | Row crops and pasture show drought stress |
| Fireworks are banned |
| Trees show drought stress; wildlife eat more crops |
| D2 | Row crop and vegetable conditions are poor; hay yield is low; corn is baled for feed |
| Outdoor burn bans are implemented |
| Lawns go dormant; weeds grow faster |
| Farmers are stressed; agriculture industry is hurting |
| Power plant intake is compromised |
| Water levels in wells, ponds, rivers, and lakes are low; streamflow is below average; voluntary water conservation is requested |
| D3 | Disease kills deer; fish are stressed |
| Vegetation is stressed |
| Well and reservoir levels are very low |
| D4 | Feed prices are high; crop loss is widespread; livestock are culled |
| Wildlife are severely stressed; fish kills occur in lakes and rivers |
How well does this table characterize drought impacts in your state? Think an impact is missing? Please fill out this survey to help improve the table.