State of the Science Fact Sheet: US Drought

Droughts are among the most damaging of all natural hazards, with annual economic losses for the US in the billions of dollars extending through water resources, crop production, ecosystems, energy, transportation networks, wild-fire risks, and public health. Drought differs from most other hazards in the nature of its onset and duration, and in the accumulation of its impacts over months and years, and can span spatial scales from small watersheds to thousands of square miles.