"Unlike climate change-fueled hurricanes, floods, and other weather disasters that wreak fast and obvious havoc, drought sneaks into our lives more slowly-eroding the resources needed to live daily life. And with 2026 expected to be the hottest year in recorded history, thanks in part to an extraordinarily powerful El Niño, the coming months will bring a deadly combination of extreme heat and extreme drought that we as journalists need to explain to our audiences and public officials so they can respond accordingly."
"While droughts have always been a part of human history, climate change is creating conditions that expand, intensify, and extend their impact. Last year, drought affected one-third of the planet-caused not by a lack of rainfall but rather the fact that a warmer atmosphere is substantially " thirstier." As temperatures rise, evaporative demand increases, pulling more moisture from streams, reservoirs, soils, and plants, making drought more likely, and harder to recover from."
"Recent research estimates that by 2050, drought will lead to a 20 percent reduction in crop production across two dozen countries, leading to a death toll of over 3 million-far outpacing other weather-related fatalities connected to tropical systems. In the United States, nearly half the population is already feeling the effects, battling drought after a particularly dry winter and an excessive heat event found to be " virtually impossible" without climate change."
"This is not just a weather story; like climate change in general, drought acts as a "threat multiplier." Already, for example, dry vegetation coupled with little seasonal snow and rain have kicked off an early wildfire season across the US, Europe, and Southeast Asia -signaling a long, more dangerous season ahead."
Drought enters daily life gradually, eroding resources needed for living. With 2026 expected to be the hottest year on record, extreme heat and extreme drought are expected to combine. Drought is not new, but climate change expands, intensifies, and prolongs its impacts. A warmer atmosphere increases evaporative demand, pulling moisture from streams, reservoirs, soils, and plants, making drought more likely and harder to recover from. In 2025, drought affected one-third of the planet, not from lack of rainfall but from increased atmospheric thirst. Research projects that by 2050 drought could reduce crop production by 20% across two dozen countries, contributing to over 3 million deaths. In the United States, nearly half the population is already affected, and drought is acting as a threat multiplier by increasing wildfire risk across multiple regions.
Read at The Nation
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