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 | Crop growth is stunted; stock pond levels decline |
| D1 | Hay yield is low; hay is expensive; corn is curling; farmers feed hay early; fruit (cherries and plums) yield is low |
| Small brush fires occur; burn bans begin |
| Voluntary water restrictions are requested |
| Fewer mosquitoes are observed than normal |
| Drought is hard on landscaping businesses |
| D2 | Crops are suffering |
| The number of wildfires is high |
| Trees lose leaves early |
| Soil is dry, cracked, and pulling away from foundations |
| Creeks are dried up |
| D3 | Soybeans are severely dry, crop yields are minimal, supplemental hay for livestock increases, livestock are stressed |
| Lawns go dormant |
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.