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US-anchored drought data + Pacific ENSO + FAO GIEWS hotspots — not a global vegetation or soil-moisture map yet.
Which crop states are worst? The drought texture is the story.
Thirteen major growing states — each bar is the latest USDM map split into drought categories. Sorted by share in D2+ (severe or worse).
What do D0–D4 mean? (click to collapse)
How much of the US is in severe drought?
Weekly share of the lower 48 in US Drought Monitor categories D2–D4 (severe through exceptional). Dashed lines mark 50% and 75% of the country in severe-or-worse drought.
Named crops at risk
Drought categories become food risk when they land on named production systems: corn, wheat, cattle, cotton, soy, sorghum.
Drought near you
Looking up your region…
US crop-belt map
Markers show tracked states coloured by drought status on the latest Thursday USDM map.
FAO food-crisis watchlist: urgency layer
Curated FAO GIEWS hotspot countries — including famine-risk countries. Colour shows concern level; click for driver. Not every hungry country is listed.
Does El Niño ease US drought?
Monthly Niño-3.4 ONI (left) vs US severe-drought area (right, inverted so drought spikes point down). La Niña cool phases often line up with worse Plains drought; El Niño warmth can bring relief.
What drives this
- Heatwaves →Extreme heat raises crop water demand and accelerates soil drying.
- ENSO →El Niño and La Niña shift rainfall odds across breadbaskets.
- AMOC stability →Circulation shifts can reshape monsoons and drought belts.
What this drives
- Wildfire risk →Drought dries fuels as well as fields.
- Animal agriculture →Pasture and feed stress flow into livestock systems.
- Food-system instability →Drought stress is one pathway from climate state to human impact.
How we know this
- Sources: US Drought Monitor (weekly CONUS + 13 crop states), NOAA CPC Niño-3.4 indices (monthly), FAO GIEWS hotspot list (hand-curated quarterly).
- Update cadence: We download public USDM and NOAA files daily; values change when those agencies publish (USDM Thursdays, ENSO monthly). GIEWS changes only when we refresh the curated list.
- Scope: Live drought numbers are US-focused. NDVI, soil moisture, and the EU Global Drought Observatory are not wired yet — the CONUS D2+ line is a transparent crop-stress proxy, not satellite vegetation.
- Methods: State status labels and ENSO phase are calculated here from published thresholds. GIEWS map uses approximate country centroids, not official boundaries.
- Limitations: “Drought near you” uses ipapi.co IP geolocation (optional third party). Food crises often involve conflict and economics, not weather alone.
- Primary data: US Drought Monitor · NOAA CPC · FAO GIEWS · How this page is built