What constitutes a drought?

by Rick Mecklenburg (rick@wsbt.com)

Tools

Map of drought areas

The areas in red show sections of the country experiencing drought-like conditions — notably Texas, the Carolinas and North Dakota.

By Beth Boehne

Story Created: Aug 15, 2008 at 12:52 PM EST

Story Updated: Aug 15, 2008 at 2:48 PM EST

SOUTH BEND — We're getting a little low on rainfall and we don't have much in sight. We're definitely not in a drought yet, but plenty of other places are around the country.

Kim from South Bend has a Good Question: What constitutes a drought?

There's actually a lot of differing opinions on how to define a drought.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), a drought is "a period of abnormally dry weather sufficiently prolonged for the lack of water to cause serious hydrologic imbalance in the affected area."

So the drought definition actually depends on where you live and how bad it is.

If you want more information on droughts click on the link in the Related Content box.

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