#Drought in 2025 in 14 Graphics — NOAA

Loveland Pass in Summit County on Dec. 24, 2025. The lack of snow is clearly visible on the higher peaks. Photo credit: Denver Water.

Click the link to read the article on the NOAA website. Here’s an excerpt:

January 15, 2026

From the catastrophic wildfires in Southern California to historic low-water levels on the Mississippi River and record-low streamflow in the Northeast, drought and its impacts touched nearly every corner of the country. The year saw the unusual return of two La Niña events and devastating weather whiplash that brought historic floods to drought-stricken Texas. 2025 showed us that drought is even more devastating when compounded with other climate hazards, such as wildfire and flood. This list breaks down some significant drought-related events of 2025 that made 2025 a year of water extremes across the United States. 

Our thoughts are with those who lost loved ones, homes, and livelihoods in the Texas flooding and California wildfires. We hope for healing and comfort for those dealing with significant losses from these events.

Most of the U.S. Experienced Some Drought Last Year

Much of the West started and ended 2025 in drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. Drought impacted the Upper Missouri River Basin and Northeastern U.S. as winter turned into spring, just as Extreme and Exceptional Drought (D3-D4) emerged in Florida and the Southwest. By late summer, drought largely improved in the East, only to emerge again in force in the Northeast U.S. In fall, drought developed in the Midwest and Southeast, and expanded in the Southern Plains and West. New Year’s Eve found drought covering 35.8% of the Nation. 

Below is a slideshow of US Drought Monitor maps for 2025.

  • US Drought Monitor map January 7, 2025.
  • US Drought Monitor map February 4, 2025.
  • US Drought Monitor map March 4, 2025.
  • US Drought Monitor map April 1, 2025.
  • US Drought Monitor map May 6, 2025.
  • US Drought Monitor map June 3, 2025.
  • US Drought Monitor map July 1, 2025.
  • US Drought Monitor map August 5, 2025.
  • US Drought Monitor map September 2, 2025.
  • US Drought Monitor map October 7, 2025.
  • US Drought Monitor map November 4, 2025.
  • US Drought Monitor map December 2, 2025.

2025: A Warm Year Overall  

Across much of the U.S., 2025 was a warm year, with annual temperature averages of up to 5° Fahrenheit (F) above normal in most areas. The greatest departures were in the Great Basin, Northern Rockies, and along the southern border. A few spotty areas around the Nation were slightly cooler than normal in 2025, particularly east of the Mississippi River. 

2025 brought a mix of precipitation to the U.S. The Pacific Northwest, Mountain West, Midwest, South, and Northeast were drier than normal. Conditions were particularly poor in the Mountain West and South Texas, where annual precipitation was 50-90% of normal. Southern California, the Dakotas, and southeastern Arizona were wetter than normal. 

Annual average temperature departure from normal across the U.S. in 2025. The map displays temperature averages compared to normal, with orange and red colors indicating above-normal temperatures. Cooler than normal areas are represented by shades of green. Data Source: High Plains Regional Climate Center
This map displays annual precipitation totals compared to the 1991–2020 normal. Shades of orange and red indicate drier-than-normal conditions (0%–90% of normal). Areas in blue and green hues represent wetter-than-normal conditions. Source: High Plains Regional Climate Center

Heatwave Leads to Early Snowmelt, Runoff in Western U.S. 

In the West, about 70% of the water supply comes from snow stored in the mountains. Across the West, snow water equivalent on April 1, 2025 was near-normal in most northern watersheds and below normal in watersheds south of the Central Rockies. But April and May brought heatwaves to the mountains, melting snow out much earlier than normal. Rapid melt out occurred across Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico, pushing some basins from above-average snowpack to snow drought conditions in under a month, with snow disappearing 1-4 weeks early. 

Snow Telemetry (SNOTEL) snow water equivalent date of water year melt out for Water Year 2025 to date (October 1, 2024–present). Red dots show snow melt out 28 or more days earlier than median and blue dots show snow melt out 28 or more days later than median. Only stations with at least 20 years of data are used. Source: USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).For an interactive version of this map, please visit NRCS.

La Niña Double Dips 

2025 was shaped by two La Niña events. La Niña is one of two phases of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation. La Niña typically brings cool, wet winter conditions to the Northwest U.S., and warm, dry winter conditions to the Southern U.S. The first La Niña was a borderline event, which peaked around January 2025, and then waned by the end of spring. The second was a little stronger, but still considered weak compared to most historical La Niña events. It began developing around August and continues through winter 2025-26.

This graphic illustrates the fluctuations in the Oceanic Niño Index (ONI), an index used to monitor the El Niño-Southern Oscillation. Blue shades indicate La Niña, the cooler phase, while red shades indicate El Niño, the warmer phase. Source: NOAA Climate Prediction Center.

Low Water Levels on the Mighty Mississippi

Extremely dry conditions across the Ohio River Basin and southern portions of the Midwest in August and September led to the rapid expansion of drought and decreased flows on the Ohio River and portions of the Lower Mississippi River. In Mid-September, the Ohio River was contributing only 8% of the overall water flow in the Lower Mississippi River, compared to its typical 50% contribution. The Ohio River at Cairo, Illinois (where the Ohio meets the Mississippi River) fell below 10 feet. 

A significant portion of the Ohio River Basin and Lower Midwest states received only 0-25% of normal precipitation from August 14-September 14, 2025. These extremely dry conditions led to the expansion of drought and decreased flows from rivers across the Basin. This map shows precipitation over the past 30 days as a percentage of the historical average (1991–2020) for the same time period. Green/blue shades indicate above-normal precipitation, while brown shades indicate below-normal precipitation. Source: UC Merced, GridMET. Map from Drought.gov Mississippi River Basin Drought and Water Dashboard.
On September 8 2025, the Ohio River was only contributing 8% of the overall flow of the Lower Mississippi River, as compared to its typical 50% contribution. Meanwhile, the Upper Mississippi and Missouri Rivers were contributing around 57% of the flow to the Lower Mississippi River compared to the typical 30%. Sub-basins within the broader Mississippi Basin contribute different flow amounts to the normal water levels that are recorded at Natchez, Louisiana in the Lower Mississippi River Basin. In the image above, normal flow contribution is provided in orange, while the current flow contribution is provided in red. Source: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Drought Peaked in November at 36%

In late November, the 2025 drought reached its national peak, with 36.65% of the U.S. in drought (D1-D4) according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. November 2025 temperatures were above to much above average throughout most of the Western and Central U.S. Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Texas, and Utah set new statewide records for November average temperatures. Portions of the northern Great Basin, Northwest, and Rockies and much of the country east of the Mississippi River saw below-average precipitation.

On November 25, 2025, the spatial extent of drought in the United States reached its annual peak, with 36.65% of the country experiencing Moderate Drought (D1) or worse. This map highlights the significant intensification of Extreme (D3) and Exceptional (D4) drought across the Mountain West, South, Midwest, Northeast, and Hawaii. Source: National Drought Mitigation Center, NOAA, and USDA
.

Winter Brings Rain Instead of Snow to the West

Winter 2025-2026 kicked off with warm weather and rain instead of snow. Nearly every major river basin in the West experienced a November among the top 5 warmest on record. On December 7, 2025, snow cover across the West was the lowest amount for that date in the MODIS satellite record (since 2001), at 90,646 square miles. Water Year 2026 (October 1, 2025–September 30, 2026) precipitation to date was near or above median for many parts of the West in late December. However, much warmer-than-normal temperatures caused precipitation to fall as rain instead of snow in many basins, leading to snow drought despite wetter-than-normal conditions across most of the West. At the end of 2025, snow drought was most severe across much of the Sierra Nevada in California, the Cascade Range in Washington and Oregon, the Blue Mountains of Oregon, and the Great Basin in Nevada.

Snow water equivalent (SWE) percentiles for locations in the western U.S. at or below the 30th percentile as of December 7, 2025. The colored dots show stations with SWE below the 2nd percentile (dark red), 2nd–5th percentile (bright red), 5th–10th percentile (orange), 10th–20th percentile (tan), and 20th–30th percentile (yellow). Stations with SWE above the 30th percentile are shown with a black “x.” We define snow drought as SWE below the 20th percentile. Only SNOTEL stations with at least 20 years of data were used. Stations where the median SWE value for the date is zero are not shown. Data source: USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service.

Keep Up With the Latest Conditions and Outlooks 

Find maps, publicly accessible data, and recent research about drought and wildfire on drought.gov. You can also subscribe to NIDIS emails for the latest regional drought updates, webinars, and news in our drought early warning system regions. To stay up to date on the latest drought conditions, sign up to receive drought alerts for your city/zip code when the National Weather Service updates their U.S. Drought Outlooks.  

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