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 Drought.
The word brings to mind brown, dying grass, hard, dry, cracked earth,
and lakes and streams with dwindling water supplies. Conditions such
as this are quite common around the United States and around the world.
Unlike many of the other natural disasters, drought does not make
a "big entrance." Drought conditions slowly appear in a
region, but as it continues without relief from rain, its destructive
effects multiply. Drought can come in disguised as many "nice"
days in a row. The sun shines bright, the days are warm, and the nights
are clear and pleasant. No one is complaining of the consecutively
nice days. "It could be raining," people say,"It could
be oppressively hot."
Soon, weeks, possibly even months, go
by with the same warm, sunny days with very little rain. Grass and
leaves start turning brown, water levels in lakes become scarce, and
before anyone realizes, their dozens of nice days, have wreaked havoc
on the area. Drought has become a serious emergency.
 Although
there are many definitions for drought, simply put, it is "the
deficiency of precipitation over a prolonged period of time, usually
a season or more." Although it can be long term, it is still
considered a temporary condition. It also does not have to fit the
above stereotype of dying vegetation and cracking ground. It just
means that an area is not receiving its normal amounts of precipitation
for the season. For example, a tropical rain forest could be suffering
drought conditions, and yet remain lush and green, unless, of course
it was an incredibly severe and drawn out drought. Severity of a drought
depends on the timing and effectiveness of precipitation in the area.
Climatic factors, such as high temperatures, high winds, and low relative
humidity can also increase the severity of a drought.
"Drought should not be viewed as merely a physical
phenomenon or natural event. Its impacts on society result from the
interplay between a natural event (less precipitation than expected
resulting from natural climatic variability) and the demand people
place on water supply. Human beings often exacerbate the impact of
drought. Recent droughts in both developing and developed countries
and the resulting economic and environmental impacts and personal
hardships have underscored the vulnerability of all societies to this
“natural” hazard." Please visit "Water Conservation
Tip Sheet" to see what steps you can take to help slow the effects
of drougth in your area.
Current US Drought Monitor
(Click to go to current map)
 Drought
causes direct effects, such as loss of crops, rangeland, increased
fire risk, and reduced water levels, to name just a few. These direct
effects have an indirect impact
economically,
environmentally, and socially. Economically,
it can cause an increase of food/produce/wood prices, unemployment,
foreclosures on farmers' loans by banks, increased credit risks for
financial institutions, less discretionary income for toursim and
purchasing items, decreased hydropower production, and loss of tax
revenue for local, state, and federal government.
Environmental
effects of drought are increases in insects and plant diseases, loss
of wetlands, lakes and vegetation,
increased soil erosion,
damage
to animal and plant species, wildlife habitat, and
air and water quality, and increased risk of wildfires. Finally, some
social
impacts are increased health problems, decreased public safety, and
increased migration from the effected area into more urban areas.
Unfortunately, most of the effects from drought are negative, but
there have been some good
things that have come out of past droughts. Either way, drought
is a serious condition. Its effect can be slowed by communities that
work together to conserve water, protect the environment, are aware
of the warning signs, and plan ahead to prevent some of the problems
that come along with drought.
(All
information obtained from the National
Drought Mitigation Center-University of Lincoln, Nebraska)
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