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 Kentucky 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 |
|---|
| D0 | Crops and pastures show mild stress |
| Lawns and vegetation are brown |
| D1 | Burn bans are issued; wildfires are reported |
| Crops and pastures show stress; corn germination is poor |
| Increased algae and fungus growth is noted |
| Trees begin to show mild stress |
| D2 | Hay yield is low; crop losses are reported; livestock need supplemental hay and water |
| Ponds, lakes, and river levels are low; boating hazards are found in lakes |
| Tress distressed, leaves wilting, pine trees turning brown |
| D3 | Creeks and ponds are completely dry; water shortages are widespread; water restrictions begin |
| Maintaining cattle and horses is very expensive, cost of food and water is very high; producers sell livestock |
| D4 | Hay hotline is put in place due to shortages; producers are hauling water |
| Water sources are extremely low |