NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information
Global Drought Information System
This Global Drought Narrative is based on global drought indicators available at the Global Drought Information System, and media reports summarized by the National Drought Mitigation Center.
Global Drought Overview
Overview: Beneficial precipitation fell across parts of the drought areas in all of the continents during April 2023, but in many cases the precipitation wasn’t enough to erase months of deficits, and the precipitation missed other parts of the drought areas. The month was drier than normal over parts of the drought-plagued agricultural lands of North America, Europe, Africa, South America, and southern China. A significant amount of the world’s agricultural lands was still suffering from low soil moisture and groundwater levels, with agriculture most threatened in parts of the Americas and Africa and southern parts of Europe.
Europe
Southern and northern portions of Europe were drier than normal during April, while central to eastern portions were near to wetter than normal. In the south, the dry area was centered on the Iberian Peninsula, which was also unusually warm. According to the State Meteorological Agency (AEMET), Spain had its warmest and driest April on record. In the north, April was drier than normal in the Baltic Rim region. The last 2 to 3 months have been excessively dry along the Mediterranean coast of Europe from Spain to Italy, with warmer-than-normal temperatures increasing evapotranspiration as seen in the Evaporative Stress Index (ESI). Dryness extends from this region north to Poland and other Baltic states at longer time periods, according to the 12- to 72-month Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI). Unusually warm conditions in recent years across Europe increased evapotranspiration, magnifying drought as seen in the 9- to 48-month Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI). The last 12 months (May 2022-April 2023) ranked as the second warmest such period continent-wide in the 1910-2023 NCEI record. Satellite-based (GRACE) indicators of groundwater and soil moisture revealed the impacts of this persistent dryness across much of the continent with low groundwater and soil moisture levels evident. The European Combined Drought Indicator showed some level of drought across the Mediterranean coast from Iberia to Italy, in Scandinavia and the Baltics, and over portions of the Balkans, with 21.6% of the EU-27 territory in Drought Warning conditions and 3.2% in Drought Alert conditions.
According to media reports (FreshFruitPortal.com), the unusually warm, dry winter in Southern Europe has led to dry conditions that have delayed planting due to reduced water availability for agricultural activities. Delayed planting is also expected to affect yield for fruits and vegetables in the region. The AP and Reuters reported that drought in northeastern Spain could lead to a "drought emergency" by September as reservoirs drop to just more than a quarter of capacity – reservoirs were at 50% of capacity countrywide, except in the northeast where levels were nearer to 25%. Many of Catalonia's rivers are flowing at record low rates. Reuters added that, in Spain, about 80,000 people in Alcaracejos and another 27 villages in the province of Cordoba depend on water being delivered by trucks as one reservoir was empty and the water from another nearby reservoir was not safe for consumption. The AP reported that extreme drought in Spain's agricultural heartlands has led to a request for emergency funds from the European Union. The drought "emergency" or "alert" classification covers 27% of the country. Euronews noted that water storage in parts of Italy is less than half of normal, which could jeopardize agricultural production. Precipitation was below normal during the winter, setting up the country for a second year of drought. The AP reported that, by the end of April, the largest river in Italy, the Po, has already become as low as it was last summer as winter snow fields, that usually keep it from drying up in the warmer months, have receded by 75%, per the Bolzano climate and environment agency. The Connexion reported that French President Emmanuel Macron has been called on to “prevent a human catastrophe” in the parched Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France. The area has not received substantial rain in more than a year. The drought and high wildfire risk could lead to a human catastrophe this summer. The BBC added that bans on car-washing, garden-watering and pool-filling will begin in France on May 10. CPH Post noted that farmers in Denmark were struggling to grow crops due to the drought.
Asia
Asia had a patchwork of divergent precipitation anomalies during April. The month was drier than normal over northwestern, southwestern, southeastern, and northeastern Arctic regions, with wet conditions in between these regions. Monthly temperatures were warmer than normal in the east and west and near to cooler than normal in between. The warm temperatures increased evapotranspiration, as seen in the ESI. The SPI showed dryness in the southwestern, southeastern, and northeastern areas at the 2- to 6-month time scales. Parts of central to northwest Asia were dry at 9 to 12 months, while Southwest Asia was persistently dry at all time scales out to the last 6 years. The last 12 months ranked as the fourth warmest May-April period, continent-wide, according to NCEI data. The anomalously warm temperatures of the last several years increased evapotranspiration, exacerbating drought conditions as seen in the SPEI. GRACE satellite observations revealed low groundwater and soil moisture across much of China to Mongolia, Southwest Asia, Southeast Asia, and northwest Asia.
Africa
Beneficial precipitation fell across parts of East Africa in April, while parts of central and southern Africa and the Mediterranean coast (the Maghreb region) continued drier than normal. Most of these areas were also warmer than normal. The April (and March) precipitation helped alleviate some of the East African dryness in the short-term, but drier-than-normal conditions were still evident in the Horn of Africa at the 6-month and longer time scales, especially as monitored by the SPEI. Warmer-than-normal temperatures enhanced evapotranspiration in April, especially in the Maghreb region, as seen on the ESI. Africa had the fourth warmest April and sixth warmest May-April, continent-wide, in the NCEI record. The dryness in the Maghreb region extended across a large part of northwest Africa at the 1-month to 6-year time scales. It was associated with a dry weather pattern over the western Mediterranean that affected this part of Africa as well as adjacent parts of southwestern Europe and was most noticeable in the SPEI. Satellite (GRACE) observations revealed improved soil moisture in parts of East Africa, but low groundwater and soil moisture persist across North Africa, other parts of East Africa, and central to southern parts of the continent. An analysis by the African Flood and Drought Monitor estimated 20% of the continent in drought at the end of April.
According to media reports (AP), the severe lack of precipitation affecting the Maghreb has lowered water storage at almost all of the 30-plus dams in Tunisia, with water storage some dams as low 17%. This has prompted Tunisian authorities to shut off water nightly from 9 p.m. to 4 a.m. in an effort to conserve water. Reuters noted that (in spite of the recent rains) more than four million people in the Horn of Africa were still in desperate need of humanitarian aid.
Australia
Most of Australia was near to wetter than normal during April 2023, except for some drier-than-normal areas in the west and northeast. The SPI and SPEI revealed dryness in eastern Australia at the 3- to 6-month time scales and areas of dryness along the north and southwest coasts at longer time scales. Dry areas were evident along the extreme west coast, as seen in GRACE groundwater and soil moisture data and in the Australian Combined Drought Indicator analyses.
South America
In South America, above-normal precipitation fell over parts of the drought areas in April, but precipitation amounts were below normal across many other areas. Temperatures were above normal across most of the continent. The April warmth, combined with above-normal temperatures continent-wide in March, resulted in the sixth warmest March-April on record. South America had the 13th warmest May-April 12-month period. The ESI showed enhanced evapotranspiration from eastern Brazil and Bolivia southward through Argentina and Chile. The SPI and SPEI maps showed dry areas at 1- to 3-month time scales in Venezuela, Peru, and Brazil, but dry conditions were especially pronounced and widespread from Peru and western Brazil southward at 1 to 48 months. Satellite (GRACE) observations revealed extensive areas of low groundwater and soil moisture from Venezuela to Brazil and southern Peru to the southern tip of the continent. Drought in southern and western Brazil was confirmed on the Brazilian Drought Monitor.
North America
In North America, April was drier than normal from northwestern Mexico and the southwestern U.S. to the U.S. Ohio Valley, across much of central Canada and the Canadian Atlantic coastal provinces, and from southern Mexico to all of Central America. The southwestern U.S. was wet earlier in the year, resulting in a dry area that extended from northern Mexico to the U.S. central Plains at 2- to 24-month time scales. Much of western to central Canada, and some eastern portions, as well as Florida and much of the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean region, were drier than normal at 2 to 24 months. At longer time scales, dryness in Canada was limited to southern areas along the U.S. border, with the dryness extending across the border into northern parts of the U.S. Most of Mexico was dry for much of the last 36 to 72 months. In the U.S., parts of the West and much of the southern to central Plains were dry at 36 to 48 months, with dryness limited to the western U.S. at longer time scales. April was warmer than normal across the eastern half of the U.S. and over eastern and northern Canada, and this enhanced evapotranspiration over the eastern U.S. as seen in the ESI, but many of the drought areas in North America were near to cooler than normal in April. Cold-air outbreaks in recent months have reduced the temperature rank for North America, but the last 12 months still ranked as the seventh warmest May-April in the NCEI record. Excessive heat in earlier years resulted in the last 48 months (May 2019-April 2023) tying with 2013-17 as the third warmest such 48-month period. GRACE satellite data revealed low groundwater and soil moisture levels over north central and western to central Canada, the interior western portions of the U.S., from the central and southern Plains in the U.S. to central Mexico, and from Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula to most of Central America. The North American Drought Monitor product depicted drought across much of western to central Canada; the central U.S. and parts of the U.S. West; parts of the Gulf of Mexico coast; and much of Mexico. The Caribbean Regional Climate Center SPI maps showed dryness across Caribbean islands at 1- to 12-month time scales.
According to media reports (Reuters), lakes near the Panama Canal were low, leading to draft restrictions on the largest ships passing through the canal. The Farm Journal reported that, in the U.S., drought has kept the contraction phase for the U.S. beef cow inventory going since 2020, with the beef cow inventory reaching a 60-year low at the start of 2023 at 28.9 million head, down 3.6% from the previous year. Cattle may continue to be culled in the next few months if drought persists. The drought in the U.S. Plains was reducing crop yields, as reported by farmers from South Dakota to Oklahoma.