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 Oklahoma 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 are stressed (wheat, canola, alfalfa, pecans); winter wheat germination is delayed |
| Stock pond levels decline |
| D1 | Lake recreation activities are affected; deer reproduction is poor |
| Seasonal creek and rainfed pond levels are lowering |
| Summer crop and forage yields are reduced |
| Wildfire risk increases |
| D2 | Burn bans begin |
| Cattle are stressed |
| Dryland crops are severely reduced; pasture growth is stunted |
| Springfed ponds are slow to refill |
| Trees show significant wilting |
| D3 | Air quality is poor, with dust storms and smoke |
| Cattle have little water and feed |
| Fishing is down; boating is hazardous with low lake levels; game bird populations decline |
| Grasses are dormant and hay is nonexistent; planting is delayed; fields are spotty; emergency CRP grazing is authorized |
| Lakes are critically low; producers are hauling water for cattle; wells are drying |
| Wildfires are increasing in number and severity |
| D4 | Burn restrictions increase |
| Cost of hay and water is high and supplies are scarce; producers are liquidating herds |
| Fire season is long; rural fire departments are running out of finances |
| Ground is cracking; farmers are bailing failed crops or abandoning fields; pastures are bare; land is abandoned |
| Ranchers and farmers are desperate and experiencing huge economic loss |
| Water lines are breaking; reservoir levels are nearing intake; mandatory water restrictions are implemented; water quality is poor |