Drought in the United States: 1996 Summary and Historical Perspective

Authors

William O. Brown, United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Climatic Data Center
Richard R. Heim Jr., United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Climatic Data CenterFollow

Date of this Version

2-1-1997

Document Type

Article

Citation

Drought Network News (February 1997) 9(1)

Published by the International Drought Information Center and the National Drought Mitigation Center, School of Natural Resources, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska, United States

Comments

United States government work

Abstract

Considerable variation in moisture conditions, on both a spatial and temporal basis, occurred in the contiguous United States during 1996. A tenth or more of the country experienced severe to extreme short-term (i.e., monthly) precipitation deficits during nearly half of the months, but in many months there were also large areas of excessive precipitation, which resulted in overall national conditions averaging near normal to wetter than normal. From a national perspective, long-term drought peaked at mid-year, when severe drought plagued the South and Southwest.