Climate Monitoring / Climate of 2002 / June / Help

Climate of 2002 - June
U.S. National Drought Overview

National Climatic Data Center, 15 July 2002
Global Analysis / Global Hazards / United States / U.S. Drought / Extreme Events
Use these links to access detailed analyses of Global and U.S. data.

Top of Page National Overview

On the national scale,
  • severe drought affected about 36 percent of the contiguous United States as of the end of June 2002, which is a jump of about 5 percent compared to the end of May and a two-month jump of 10 percent compared to the end of April;
  • the coverage of the current (November 1999-present) national-scale drought first peaked in August 2000 at about 36% of the contiguous U.S., which was as extensive as the major droughts of the last 40 years, but not as large as the "dust bowl" droughts of the 1930's and 1950's;
  • the total drought area decreased to about 10 percent by November 2000, but has shown a general increasing trend for much of the period since then, reaching in June 2002 the peak it had first reached in August 2000 (see graph below left);
  • on a broad scale, the last two decades were characterized by unusual wetness with short periods of extensive droughts, whereas the 1930's and 1950's were characterized by prolonged periods of extensive droughts with little wetness (see graph below right);
  • although various parts of the U.S. have experienced unusually wet conditions during the last 32 months, little change occurred in the aggregate national wetness picture during much of this period;
  • the percentage of the nation severely wet has remained below about eleven percent during this period, reaching about 2 percent by the end of June 2002 (see graph below left);
  • a file containing the national monthly percent area severely dry and wet from 1900 to present is available;
  • historical temperature, precipitation, and Palmer drought data from 1895 to present for climate divisions, states, and regions in the contiguous U.S. are available at the Climate Division: Temperature-Precipitation-Drought Data page in files having names that start with "drd964x" and ending with "txt" (without the quotes).
U.S. Drought and Wet Spell Area, 1996-present
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U.S. Drought and Wet Spell Area, 1900-present
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Although some areas of the U.S. had above normal precipitation, many areas were very dry. Integrated across the nation, June 2002 precipitation averaged below normal. Twelve of the last 34 months have averaged well below the normal, while only three averaged well above normal (see graph top right). National 2001-2002 precipitation ranks:

Precipitation Ranks for the
Contiguous U.S., 2001-2002
Period Rank
Jun 28th driest
May-Jun 24th driest
Apr-Jun 24th driest
Mar-Jun 30th driest
Feb-Jun 15th driest
Jan-Jun 13th driest
Dec-Jun 19th driest
Nov-Jun 24th driest
Oct-Jun 24th driest
Sep-Jun 26th driest
Aug-Jun 27th driest
Jul-Jun 28th driest
U.S. Precipitation Departure and Normals, January 1998-present
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U.S. Precipitation, June, 1895-2002
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Top of Page For all climate questions other than questions concerning this report, please contact the National Climatic Data Center's Climate Services Division:

Climate Services Division
NOAA/National Climatic Data Center
151 Patton Avenue
Asheville, NC 28801-5001
fax: 828-271-4876
phone: 828-271-4800
email: ncdc.info@noaa.gov
For further information on the historical climate perspective presented in this report, contact:

Richard Heim
NOAA/National Climatic Data Center
151 Patton Avenue
Asheville, NC 28801-5001
fax: 828-271-4328
email: Richard.Heim@noaa.gov
-or-
Jay Lawrimore
NOAA/National Climatic Data Center
151 Patton Avenue
Asheville, NC 28801-5001
fax: 828-271-4328
email: Jay.Lawrimore@noaa.gov
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Climate Monitoring / Climate of 2002 / June / Help