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How do droughts form or occur?

Updated: 9/14/2023
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Drought is an abnormally long period of dry weather because there is a severe lack of water in an environment over an extended period of time. For a drought to happen, it means that rainfall has fallen below the average necessary to water crops and/or livestock, and to refill dams for months at a time.

Severe droughts occur commonly in the interior of continents, particularly Africa and Australia. However, they can occur anywhere, and with different levels of severity.

There are several reasons why they can occur. The topography of the land has some influence on weather patterns: for example, in Australia, the Great Dividing Range extends down the eastern side of the continent, effectively preventing rainfall from reaching very far into the interior. Winds that move moisture laden air to areas where the moisture would become rain are unable to extend inland.

This may be a result of the El Nino phenomenon, which brings dry conditions to some parts of the world for sometimes as long as several years at a time. This is why the southern continents of Africa and Australia are particularly prone.

Desertification is a vicious cycle which increases drought-like conditions, and makes it increasingly difficult for the land to recover. Desertification may occur as a result of man's intervention in the environment, particularly activities such as deforestation and cutting down trees, over-grazing of stock animals, or farming unsuitable crops for a region (e.g. rice, which has to have large amounts of water pumped to it).

Some recent droughts are believed to have happened because of global warming.

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Q: How do droughts form or occur?
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