What is a flash drought, and why does it have serious consequences?
What is a flash drought?
The dry weather phenomenon is hitting parts of the U.S., and it could have serious consequences.
While normal drought slowly develops because of low precipitation, a flash drought forms quickly and rapidly when dry weather combines with hot temperatures, wind and “incoming radiation,” according to the National Drought Mitigation Center.
So, rather than having years to prepare, a flash drought gives people months or only weeks to plan for “crop losses, reductions in water supply and increased wildfire risk,” Weather.com reports.
“Typically we look at drought as being a slow onset, slow-developing type phenomenon compared to other disasters that rapidly happen, so this flash drought term came about,” Brian Fuchs, a climatologist at the National Drought Mitigation Center in Nebraska, told The Associated Press. “The idea is that it’s more of a rapidly developing drought situation compared to what we typically see.”
It’s causing concern for farmers and food suppliers as triple-degree weather lingers into the fall, The Wall Street Journal reports.
“This flash drought is already impacting agriculture, damaging range and pasture grasses for livestock and making it difficult to harvest peanuts in the dry, hard soils,” David Zierden, a climatologist at Florida State University, told The Wall Street Journal.
According to a U.S. Drought Monitor report Thursday, millions of Americans in 14 states across a southern swath of the country are sweating through a flash drought, the AP reported. It’s an area that includes nearly 20 percent of the lower 48 states, according to the National Drought Mitigation Center.
“Warmer than normal temperatures dominated the eastern two-thirds of the country, with many areas having temperatures that were 9 to 15 degrees above normal,” according to the U.S. Drought Monitor report on Thursday. “Very dry conditions also dominated regions in the southern Plains, southern Midwest and along most of the East Coast.
“The heat and dryness have continued setting the stage for rapidly developing drought, impacting mainly agricultural sectors right now.”
This story was originally published October 3, 2019 at 3:10 PM.