In the past few years, the Southeast has experienced two different “flash” droughts (2016-2017 and 2019) These droughts are caused by a combination of almost complete lack of rain and hotter than usual temperatures. The droughts come on quickly and sometime disappear quickly too, but may morph into longer-term drought instead. Flash droughts are particularly hard on the agricultural community since most crops need regular rainfall to thrive. Dry spells at key times in crop cycles such as corn pollination can drastically reduce yields if no rain falls when the crops need it most. In this audio story, Molly Samuel of WABE interviews some scientists working on flash drought on projects I am also involved with. You can listen to it here.
For more on flash drought, NOAA has just released a new online report entitled “Flash Drought: Current Understanding & Future Priorities“. They also discussed this at a recent webinar, which may be replayed here.
