CIRCLE WITH A DOT

Drought, diesel prices could cut crawfish season shortCrawfish producers are pumping more water into ponds, and the high price of diesel makes it expensive to irrigate. Without the issuance of H-2B visas for guest workers, there aren't enough crawfish peelers.#crawfish #Louisiana #drought #diesel https://www.heraldguide.com/featured/drought-diesel-prices-could-cut-crawfish-season-short/

Drought puts Peace River fossil hunting on the map with megalodon teethAlong the Peace River in Charlotte County, lower water levels are giving fossil hunters rare access to areas that are typically underwater. That means more opportunities to uncover ancient animal remains, including one of the most sought-after finds in the region: megalodon teeth.#Florida #fossil #MegalodonShark #drought #teeth https://www.gulfcoastnewsnow.com/article/peace-river-fossil-hunting-florida/70921398

Tropical volcanic eruptions trigger atmospheric changes that drive droughts in AsiaPast tropical volcanic eruptions have been connected with historical large-scale droughts across parts of Asia documented over the last millennium.#drought #volcano https://phys.org/news/2026-03-tropical-volcanic-eruptions-trigger-atmospheric.html

Drought expanded and intensified across most of the country with a few spots of improvement in the Pacific Northwest, Midwest and Northeast. Drought (D1-D4) covers 56.21% of the US, up 1.4 points from last week. The last time there was this much drought in the US was the week of Nov. 29, 2022, when 57.51% of the contiguous US was affected.#drought #DroughtMonitor #USDMhttps://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/CurrentMap/StateDroughtMonitor.aspx?conus

Drought Leads to Increased Antibiotic-Resistant Microbes in SoilsA new Caltech study indicates that drought increases the abundances of antibiotic-resistant microorganisms in soils, which directly correlates with an increase in antibiotic-resistant infections in hospitals. In other words, regions experiencing high aridity—hotter, drier regions—also experience higher levels of antibiotic-resistant infections. The work demonstrates the interconnectedness of climate, environment, and human health.#AntibioticResistance #drought #AntibioticResistantMicrobe #soil #infection https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/drought-leads-to-increased-antibiotic-resistant-microbes-in-soils

This Year's Snow Drought is Etching Itself Into Utah Forest HistoryWithout a winter snowpack to convert into spring runoff, trees will shift into very low gear, growing little and leaving narrow bands in their tree-ring records. In really bad years there is no growth, and no ring, at all.#tree #drought #Utah #SnowDrought https://www.usu.edu/today/story/this-years-snow-drought-is-etching-itself-into-utah-forest-history

Corpus Christi water emergency may be just two months away, city leaders sayTwo out of the five projections city leaders presented Tuesday showed water shortages beginning in May. The city has yet to detail plans for how to reduce water use for residents and businesses.#Texas #CorpusChristi #drought #water #WaterEmergency https://www.texastribune.org/2026/03/17/texas-corpus-christi-water-emergency-city-council-meeting/

Severe U.S. drought undermined Gulf fisheries, raising food security concernsA severe and prolonged U.S. drought in the late 1980s played a central role in one of the largest fisheries declines ever recorded in the Gulf of Mexico.#drought #MississippiRiver #GulfOfMexico #fisheries #FoodSecurity https://news.miami.edu/rosenstiel/stories/2026/03/severe-us-drought-undermined-gulf-fisheries-raising-food-security-concerns.html

The North American Drought Monitor shows drought changes during February. In Canada, drought (D1-D4) dropped 13.59 points to cover 27.99%. In the US, drought increased 8.49 points to cover 45.82%. In Mexico, drought expanded 0.83 points to cover 7.41%.#drought #Canada #Mexico #NorthAmericanDroughtMonitor #DroughtMonitor https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/NADM/Home.aspx

In the West, snow drought is pushing cross-country ski areas closer to a breaking pointDirt is a common and unwanted sight at ski areas across the region this year. Due to high temperatures and low precipitation, snow coverage across the Western U.S. likely peaked in February at around 38% of average, according to a recent analysis by the National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado Boulder. The percentage marks a record low since satellites started measuring snow coverage 26 years ago.#SnowDrought #drought #SkiResort #snow https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/open-spaces/2026-03-13/in-the-west-snow-drought-is-pushing-cross-country-ski-areas-closer-to-a-breaking-point

New article: Flooding does not mean the Pacific Northwest drought is overhttps://ingallswx.com/2026/03/16/flooding-does-not-mean-the-pacific-northwest-drought-is-over/#weather #drought #flood #WAwx #ORwx

Tiny California Wildflower Stuns Scientists With Drought-Defying ComebackA new genetics study finds that the scarlet monkeyflower, a bright red creekside wildflower that lines streams across the West Coast, appears to have evolved in real time during California’s brutal 2012 to 2015 drought and, in some places, clawed its way back from the brink.#evolution #drought https://hoodline.com/2026/03/tiny-california-wildflower-stuns-scientists-with-drought-defying-comeback/

Water managers look to spur precipitation in the midst of record-breaking droughtRain Enhancement Technologies, a company that’s operated in Oman, doesn’t use traditional cloud-seeding methods, which are characterized by putting silver iodide particles into the atmosphere. Instead, they do what they call “ionization cloud seeding,” which uses high-voltage rays to ionize naturally occurring aerosols in the atmosphere. Aerosols are necessary for cloud formation, and therefore, precipitation.#CloudSeeding #Utah #ColoradoRiver #water #drought https://www.aspenpublicradio.org/environment/2026-03-12/water-managers-look-to-spur-precipitation-in-the-midst-of-record-breaking-drought

North Florida drought strains farmers as dry conditions persistNorth Florida fields are drying out faster, forcing growers to adjust their routines as conditions change day by day. Farmers are using more fuel to run their irrigation systems to moisten the soil for planting.#drought #Florida https://www.wuft.org/2026-03-11/north-florida-drought-strains-farmers-as-dry-conditions-persist

Drought worsened in parts of the West and High Plains, but improved across a wide swath of the Midwest. Drought covers 53.97% of the continental US, a decrease of 0.91 points from the previous week. The snowpack remains very low in the West.#drought #DroughtMonitor https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/CurrentMap.aspx

Find more monitoring, planning and education resources on our website: https://drought.unl.edu. #droughtmonitor #drought #drought2026

Too much snow or hoping for more? Two different winters hit the USSo far this season, millions in the Northeast have endured rounds of frigid temperatures and mounds of snow. But a different winter has played out across much of the West. High temperatures and a lack of snow have been feeding a drought there, impacting ski resorts and fueling water shortage concerns.#snow #drought #SnowDrought https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/investigations/2026/03/11/us-drought-snow-winter-2026/89069485007/

Drought in Türkiye’s Iznik Lake reveals possible second submerged basilicaA drop in water levels caused by worsening drought in Iznik (ancient Nicaea), Bursa, northwestern Türkiye, has brought new archaeological remains to the surface in Lake Iznik, where drone footage has revealed what experts believe could be a second submerged basilica close to the shoreline.#Türkiye #drought https://www.turkiyetoday.com/culture/drought-in-turkiyes-iznik-lake-reveals-possible-second-submerged-basilica-3215956

Colorado River may deliver just a third of normal water supplies this spring, projections showModeling released late last week showed the river system on track to deliver a scant 2.3 million acre-feet to Lake Powell, one of the river system’s largest reservoirs. That’s 36% of the median of 6.4 million acre-feet recorded between 1991 and 2020. If the forecast comes true, it would be the fifth-lowest inflow to Lake Powell since the reservoir’s establishment in 1963, according to the National Weather Service’s Colorado Basin River Forecast Center.#ColoradoRiver #drought #SnowDrought #water https://www.denverpost.com/2026/03/09/colorado-river-drought-forecast-lake-powell/

Dry outlook persists for Missouri River despite early spring runoffDespite above average February runoff, the full-year runoff forecast above Sioux City, Iowa is 20.6 MAF, 80% of average. The six mainstem power plants generated 425 million kWh of electricity in February, below the typical February energy generation of 614 million kWh.#drought #water #MissouriRiver https://www.nwd.usace.army.mil/media/news-releases/article/4422917/dry-outlook-persists-for-missouri-river-despite-early-spring-runoff-navigation/