Droughts in the United States facts for kids
Droughts in the United States is similar to drought around other parts of the world. Below-normal precipitation leads to drought. That's caused by an above average persistence of high pressure over a dry area.
Drought in the United States occurs during climate cycles, such as the North Atlantic oscillation, Atlantic multidecadal oscillation and the El Niño-Southern Oscillation. These determine what areas are more likely to have development of drought and when drought develops.
Droughts are periodic. They alternate with floods over a series of years.
The worst droughts in U.S. history happened in the 1930s and 1950s. The U.S. drought in the 1930s was called the Dust Bowl. The 1936 North American heat wave was part of the Dust Bowl.
Other major droughts in the 20th and 21st centuries happened in the United States in the 1960s, 1980, 1983, 1988-90, 2002 and 2012-14.
The costliest drought in United States history was the 1988-90 drought. The drought caused just over $60 billion in damage. During the drought, there were also heat waves that took the lives of 4,800-17,000 people in the U.S. This drought was also the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history before Hurricane Katrina.
Droughts can affect anywhere within the United States. But the Midwest, Great Plains and Western United States are most likely to be affected by droughts.
Images for kids
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A farmer and his two sons during a dust storm in Cimarron County, Oklahoma, 1936. Photo: Arthur Rothstein.
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La Niña's impact on global climate
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Folsom Lake reservoir during the California drought in 2015
