By: Brianne Minton
What/ Who is Alabama Drought Reach?
Alabama Drought Reach (ADR) is a statewide drought communications and outreach program focused on improving our understanding of how drought impacts Alabama.
The program is a collaborative partnership between the Auburn University Water Resources Center, the Alabama Office of the State Climatologist, and the Alabama Cooperative Extension System with additional support from the Alabama Agricultural Experiment Stations.
The ADR motto is to stay aware and be prepared. Drought can occur at any time and have major impacts on all areas of life within Alabama.
Read on to learn how citizens can engage with drought impact reporting in their communities.
Brianne Minton, the ADR Program Coordinator, encourages everyone to stay up to date on current drought conditions, either through the Alabama Drought Reach website and newsletter or by checking on the weekly U.S. Drought Monitor Map of Alabama.
What is Drought?
In the broadest sense, drought refers to a period of little or no rainfall. That period can be two weeks, two months, or even two years. This precipitation deficit is often referred to as meteorological drought.
Once we see noticeable impacts from that drought, it becomes further defined by whatever impact it is causing. Those four main impacts are agricultural, hydrologic, socioeconomic, and ecological drought. A rain deficit becomes hydrologic drought, for instance, once the dryness impacts streamflow, reservoir levels, groundwater, and various hydrologic processes.
Drought impacts all areas of life in Alabama, and the best way to know if your area is experiencing drought is by viewing the weekly U.S. Drought Monitor Map.
Five Types of Drought: Nevada Extension
U.S. Drought Monitor
U.S. Drought Monitor Map of Alabama for the Week Ending on September 10, 2024
The United States Drought Monitor (USDM) is a map released weekly, detailing the areas of the U.S. that are in drought. It is authored by the National Drought Mitigation Center with statewide input. The Alabama Office of the State Climatologist is the agency that provides input for Alabama. You can help the state climate office provide more accurate input by submitting CMOR drought reports. The USDM map has 5 classifications:
- DO (Abnormally Dry) – areas that may be going into or are coming out of drought
- D1 (Moderate Drought)
- D2 (Severe Drought)
- D3 (Extreme Drought)
- D4 (Exceptional Drought)
The map above depicts drought conditions in Alabama as of September 10, 2024. At that time, 100% of Alabama was either abnormally dry or in drought. D3 Extreme Drought had just been introduced to Lauderdale and Lawrence Counties, and D2 Severe Drought covered nearly half the state. The new map is updated every Thursday at 7:30am Central.
Current 2024 Drought
As of writing this post on September 13, 2024, all Alabama counties are experiencing some level of drought. After a relatively wet spring, pockets of abnormal dryness started to pop up in May. This abnormal dryness culminated into a summer drought by the end of June and drastically worsened as July heat ramped up. Over the course of three weeks (July 2 – July 16) areas of North Alabama worsened from Moderate to Severe to Extreme Drought. This rapid intensification of dry conditions, coupled with increased heat, could be termed a flash drought. Much of the state saw needed rainfall at the end of July, but precipitation stalled soon after.
A flash drought is the rapid onset of drought. While conventional drought is mainly driven by a lack of precipitation, flash drought is often caused by a combination of abnormally high temperatures, winds, and/or incoming radiation that leads to abnormally high evapotranspiration rates (read more). After enduring one of the hottest and driest Septembers on record, Alabama and the vast majority of the Southeast are currently in flash drought conditions.
Flash droughts can have extreme agricultural impacts, particularly due to their characteristic rapid onset that increases the difficulty of forecasting their development. A study called, “Flash Drought Characteristics Based on U.S. Drought Monitor” was conducted by NOAA, the National Weather Service (NWS), and the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) Climate Prediction Center to investigate how to better predict flash drought development.
The statewide rainfall average for August 2024 was only 1.29 inches, the driest on record since 1895. Some rain gauges even recorded 0 inches of total rainfall for the entire month of August! This was especially concerning to Alabama farmers, because most crops need at least 1-2 inches of rain per week in August.
As precipitation stalled and temperatures rose, drought conditions ramped back up. 100% of Alabama counties were in some level of drought by the start of September, which was nearly a 70% increase from the start of August. These conditions are worrisome, not only because we are entering our historically dry season but also because a dry summer leading to a dry fall is less than ideal. We saw a very similar scenario play out last fall (2023), with a drought that peaked in November with nearly half the state in Extreme and Exceptional Drought. Residual dryness stuck around until the end of March 2024.
Development of the Summer-Fall 2024 Drought. Notice the pockets of dryness in May and June, the rapid intensification of flash drought in July, the small reprieve at the beginning of August, and the final ramp up of drought moving into September.
Is there any good news? Some areas of Alabama experienced heavy rainfall from Hurricane Francine and there is the potential for more rain as we move through the Atlantic Hurricane season. While hurricanes and tropical storms have devastating impacts, they can also be our saving grace during times of drought. Stay safe, stay aware, and be prepared.
Drought Impact Reporting with CMOR
Brianne also encourages Alabama citizens to engage with ADR by submitting regular drought reports that provide localized impact data to Alabama Office of the State Climatologist. These impact reports help provide more accurate depictions of Alabama drought to the weekly U.S. Drought Monitor map.
Anyone can submit regular drought reports via CMOR (Condition Monitoring Observer Reports). This is a public survey, created by the National Drought Mitigation Center, that allows anyone within the U.S. to report drought conditions. As Brianne often says: “Report now and report often!”
For more information, contact Brianne Minton at drought@auburn.edu