Where Is the US in Drought?
Every state by drought category, from the weekly US Drought Monitor. Week of 1 September 2026 to 7 September 2026.
Shading follows each state’s Drought Severity and Coverage Index — the five category percentages added together, 0 to 500 — so a state that is broadly dry ranks differently from one with a small patch of catastrophe. Hover a state for its figures.
Driest states
Ranked by severity and coverage together. Percentages are cumulative — “or worse” — so they do not sum to 100.
- 1OklahomaExceptional drought present · 12.64% exceptional335DSCI
- 2UtahExceptional drought present · 0.32% exceptional · active fires329DSCI
- 3New MexicoExceptional drought present · 7.66% exceptional · active fires321DSCI
- 4ColoradoExceptional drought present · 11.97% exceptional · active fires314DSCI
- 5WyomingExtreme drought present · active fires302DSCI
- 6OregonExceptional drought present · 3.91% exceptional · active fires292DSCI
- 7IdahoExceptional drought present · 7.94% exceptional · active fires274DSCI
- 8ArkansasExceptional drought present · 0.99% exceptional261DSCI
- 9NevadaExceptional drought present · 0.82% exceptional · active fires243DSCI
- 10North DakotaExtreme drought present242DSCI
How to read this
The US Drought Monitor is published every Thursday by the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, with NOAA and the US Department of Agriculture. It is not a single measurement but a weekly judgement that combines rainfall, soil moisture, streamflow, reservoir levels and reports from local observers.
The five categories run D0 abnormally dry through D4 exceptional drought, and they are cumulative: a state at 40% D1 has 40% of its area in moderate drought or worse. That is why the numbers on this page do not add to 100.
This is a national overview, not a local forecast or a water-restriction notice. For either, follow your state agency and local utility.