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 is low; pasture and row crops are stressed |
| Fire danger increases |
| Weather is good for construction projects |
| Lake and river levels decline; water temperatures rise |
| D1 | Winter snow events are canceled |
| River and lake levels are lower than normal |
| D2 | Ground is hard; seed corn is short; feed is expensive; crop yields are low |
| Fire danger is high; burn permits are required |
| Landscaping is stressed; leaves change colors early |
| Bears search for food; trout runs are hampered; fish kills occur |
| River flow is very low; snowpack is significantly lower; well levels decrease |
| D3 | Corn is harvested early; emergency haying and grazing are authorized |
| Wildfires are widespread |
| Surface waters are near record lows |
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.