Ask the Chatbot Games & Quizzes History & Society Science & Tech Biographies Animals & Nature Geography & Travel Arts & Culture ProCon Money Videos
drought
Table of Contents
Introduction References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics
Images & Videos
permanent drought major present-day and historical droughts
New technology: Harvesting fresh water from fog
Los Angeles River: drought
How scientists research drought-resistant crops
Study the alarming cause of water shortages in Germany
Global warming and its impact explained
What would happen if Earth's temperature rose by 2 °C?
For Students
Lake Mead is seen in the distance behind a dead creosote bush in an area of dry, cracked earth that used to be underwater near where the Lake Mead Marina was once located on June 12, 2021 in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Nevada.
Comprehension Quiz: Water Scarcity
Quizzes
Lightning over a farm field. Weather electricity thunderstorm light energy tree
Facts You Should Know: Weather Quiz
Umbrella colored like a rainbow sticking out above a sea of black umbrellas while it rains. (storm, weather)
Weather Words Vocabulary Quiz
rain. Child in the rain, wearing a rain coat, under a yellow umbrella. April Showers weather climate rain storm water drops
April Showers to March’s Lions and Lambs
Read Next
Infographic on Drought
Current and Historical Droughts Around the World
composition demonstrating Drought. drought, dried crops, duststorm, dried ground.
Smothered in Drought
Flower. Fruit tree. Cherry. Cherry tree. Cherry blossom. Spring. Close-up of cherry blossoms in bloom.
The Perils of an Early Spring
Fireboat response crews battle the blazing remnants of the off shore oil rig BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill, in the Gulf of Mexico, April 21, 2010. A Coast Guard rescue helicopter document the fire, searches for survivors of the 126 person crew. BP spill
Deepwater Horizon Disaster: Five Years Later
High-oblique view of the extra-tropical unnamed cyclone that merged with Hurricane Earl is featured in this image taken by an Expedition 24 crew member on the International Space Station (Sept. 2010).
Is the Number of Hurricanes Increasing?
Discover
Illustration by the CDC, reveals ultrastructural morphology exhibited by coronaviruses. Note the spikes on the outer surface of the virus, which impart the look of a corona surrounding the virion, when viewed electron microscopically. A novel coronavirus,
The Top COVID-19 Vaccine Myths Spreading Online
coffee beans, ground coffee, cup of coffee
Know Your Joe: 5 Things You Didn’t Know About Coffee
Baseball laying in the grass. Homepage blog 2010, arts and entertainment, history and society, sports and games athletics
10 Greatest Baseball Players of All Time
Remarkable new details of Pluto's largest moon Charon are revealed in this image from New Horizons' Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI), taken late on July 13, 2015 from a distance of 289,000 miles
Why Is Pluto No Longer a Planet?
cloning. First cloned cat. First cloned companion animal. CC (copy cat) female domestic shorthair cat (b. Dec. 22, 2001) photo Jan. 18, 2002. Cloned at Texas A&M Univ. College of Vet. Med. & Biomedical Sciences. Reproductive cloning genetics DNA cc cat
CC, The First Cloned Cat
Black widow spider
9 of the World’s Deadliest Spiders
Taj Mahal, India
23 Must-See Buildings for Your First Trip to India

drought: Facts & Related Content

verifiedCite
While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions.
Select Citation Style
Share
Share to social media
URL
https://www.britannica.com/facts/drought
Written and fact-checked by
The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

The Information Architects maintain a master list of the topics included in the corpus of  Encyclopædia Britannica, and create and manage the relationships between them.
The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

News •

The Aussies grappling with deep drought conditions • Mar. 2, 2025, 8:47 AM ET (ABC News (Australia))

Facts

Also Known As drouth

Photos and Videos

permanent drought
major present-day and historical droughts
Los Angeles River: drought
New technology: Harvesting fresh water from fog
How scientists research drought-resistant crops
Study the alarming cause of water shortages in Germany
Global warming and its impact explained
What would happen if Earth's temperature rose by 2 °C?
See All Videos and Images →

Related Topics and References

Topics

Related Quizzes and Features

Quiz
Lightning over a farm field. Weather electricity thunderstorm light energy tree
Facts You Should Know: Weather Quiz
rain. Child in the rain, wearing a rain coat, under a yellow umbrella. April Showers weather climate rain storm water drops
April Showers to March’s Lions and Lambs
Umbrella colored like a rainbow sticking out above a sea of black umbrellas while it rains. (storm, weather)
Weather Words Vocabulary Quiz
Lake Mead is seen in the distance behind a dead creosote bush in an area of dry, cracked earth that used to be underwater near where the Lake Mead Marina was once located on June 12, 2021 in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Nevada.
Comprehension Quiz: Water Scarcity