1988–1990 North American drought

none February 2025 46 -94 title thumb|President of the United States Ronald Reagan and Vice President Bush discuss the drought with Secretary of Agriculture Lyng thumb|Exploration of wooden hull wrecks in the Mississippi River in Memphis, Tennessee during the drought The 1988–1990 North American drought ranks among the worst episodes of drought in the United States. This multi-year drought began in most areas in 1988 and continued into 1989 and 1990 (in certain areas). The drought caused $60 billion in damage ($US 60000000000 1988  USD) in United States dollars, adjusting for inflation. The drought occasioned some of the worst blowing-dust events since 1977 or the 1930s in many locations in the Midwestern United States, including a protracted dust storm, which closed schools in South Dakota in late February 1988. During the spring, several weather stations set records for the lowest monthly total precipitation and the longest interval between measurable precipitation, for example, 55 days in a row without precipitation in Milwaukee. During the summer, two record-setting heatwaves developed, similar to those of 1934 and 1936. The concurrent heat waves killed 4,800 to 17,000 people in the United States. During the summer of 1988, the drought led to many wildfires in forested western North America, including the Yellowstone fires of 1988. At its peak, the drought covered 45% of the United States. That was far less area than the Dust Bowl, which covered 70% of the United States, but the drought of 1988–1990 not only ranks as the costliest drought in United States history, it was one of the costliest natural disasters in United States history. In Canada, drought-related losses added to $1.8 billion (1988 Canadian dollars). Origin Droughts in the United States The western United States experienced a lengthy drought in the late 1980s. Much of California experienced one of its longest droughts ever observed from late 1986 through late 1992. The situation worsened in 1988 as much of the United States also suffered from severe drought. In California, the six-year drought ended in late 1992 as a significant El Niño event in the Pacific Ocean (and the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in June 1991) most likely caused unusually persistent heavy rains.https://books.google.com/books?id=Gny2NvbyAPgC&pg=PA122 122 2013-06-11 1992 ASCE Publications Lessons learned from the California Drought (1987-1992) ((Water Resources Support Center, Institute For Water Resources, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers)) 978-0-7881-4163-8 Cultivation of marginally arable land, as well as pumping groundwater to near depletion contributed to the damage from this event. Damage The drought of 1988 ranked as the worst drought since the Dust Bowl, which had occurred more than 50 years earlier. Damages in the United States (as of 2008, adjusted for inflation) were calculated at between $80 billion and almost $120 billion. The state of Minnesota alone saw $1.2 billion in crop losses. The drought caused devastation comparable to that of Hurricane Andrew in 1992 and Hurricane Katrina in 2005. In Canada, drought-related losses totaled $1.8 billion (in 1988 Canadian dollars). Following a milder drought in the southeastern United States and California the previous year, the 1988–1989 drought affected the Mid-Atlantic states, the southeastern United States, the midwestern United States, the northern Great Plains, and the western United States. Heatwaves that accompanied the drought are estimated to have killed over 5,000 Americans as well as livestock across the United States.Impacts of Recent Climate Anomalies: Losers and Winners Illinois State Water Survey http://www.isws.illinois.edu/pubdoc/DCS/ISWSDCS2007-01.pdf 2017-09-05 December 28, 2015 https://web.archive.org/web/20151228235204/http://www.isws.illinois.edu/pubdoc/DCS/ISWSDCS2007-01.pdf dead The drought destroyed crops almost nationwide, lawns went brown, and many cities declared water restrictions. More than four inches (100 mm) of helpful rain was brought to parts of the Midwest in September 1988 by Hurricane Gilbert, which crossed Texas and Oklahoma as a tropical depression,Hurricane Gilbert - September 14-21, 1988 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration http://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/tropical/rain/gilbert1988.html 2017-09-05 weakening as it moved further north into Missouri, and spreading rain as far as the Great Lakes.Weatherwise, January 1989: "The Weather of 1988" In some areas Hurricane Gilbert overcame the drought outright, but other locations were at −6 or lower on the Palmer Drought Severity Index by early autumn 1988 and a general change in the pattern which had maintained for the preceding nine-plus months was required to ease the hydrological impacts of the drought. The agricultural damage was essentially done by this point, resulting in record prices for commodities. September 2017 Wildfires in Yellowstone National Park burned 793880 acre km2 0 and altered the landscape significantly.Young Linda http://www.nifc.gov/preved/comm_guide/wildfire/fire_26c.html Flames of Controversy: Interpreting the Yellowstone Fires of 1988 Wildland Fire Education and Outreach Case Studies National Interagency Fire Command September 29, 2016 https://web.archive.org/web/20070623130522/http://www.nifc.gov/preved/comm_guide/wildfire/fire_26c.html June 23, 2007 The catastrophic drought continued across the Upper Midwest and northern Great Plains states during 1989, not officially ending until 1990.Billion Dollar Disasters (Northern Plains Drought in Summer 1989) Live Science http://www.livescience.com/environment/disaster_chronology_1980_2004.html 2009-04-18 Drought Stricken Areas Find Relief after Rains New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/1989/09/16/us/drought-stricken-areas-find-relief-after-rains.html 2009-04-13 William Robbins 1989-09-16 Dry conditions continued during 1989, affecting Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, parts of Nebraska,Palmer Modified Drought Index (PMDI) Rankings, March 1990 (Nebraska) NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cag/statewide/rankings/25/pmdi/199003 January 6, 2022Palmer Modified Drought Index (PMDI) Rankings, September 1990 (Nebraska) NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cag/statewide/rankings/25/pmdi/199009 January 6, 2022 Minnesota,Palmer Modified Drought Index (PMDI) Rankings, May 1990 (Minnesota) NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cag/statewide/rankings/21/pmdi/199005 January 6, 2022Palmer Modified Drought Index (PMDI) Rankings, December 1990 (Minnesota) NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cag/statewide/rankings/21/pmdi/199012 January 6, 2022 Kansas and large portions of Colorado.Improving Drought Management University of Nebraska–Lincoln http://www.bre.orst.edu/Faculty/selker/Oregon%20Water%20Policy%20and%20Law%20Website/Report%20of%20the%20WWPRAC/DROUGHT.PDF 2009-04-19 https://web.archive.org/web/20100615002101/http://www.bre.orst.edu/Faculty/selker/Oregon%20Water%20Policy%20and%20Law%20Website/Report%20of%20the%20WWPRAC/DROUGHT.PDF 2010-06-15 Drought of 1989 NOAA https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/billions/events/US/1989-1991 November 10, 2017 The drought also affected some parts of Canada.July 2008 Beginning in the spring, a persistent wind pattern brought hot dry air into the middle of the continent from the desert southwest, whereas in most years advection of warm and humid air from the Gulf of Mexico is the rule; therefore, despite the extremely high temperatures, elevation of apparent temperature was not as severe as would be the case during the 1995 heat wave.November 2022 See also 1980 United States heat wave 1988-1990 La Niña event References 2 External links The Drought of 1988 book in PDF form Kevin E. Trenberth Grant W. Branstator Phillip A. Arkin Origins of the 1988 North American Drought Science 1988 242 4886 1640–1645 10.1126/science.242.4886.1640 17730574 1988Sci...242.1640T 206573703 20th Century Drought https://web.archive.org/web/20170208062959/https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/drought/drght_history.html 2017-02-08 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Crop Production: Outlook for Post-Drought Recovery During 1989, Briefing report to the chairman, Subcommittee on Agricultural Research and General Legislation, Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, United States Senate Impact of the Drought on Prices and Production: Hearing before the Subcommittee on Economic Stabilization of the Committee on Banking, Finance, and Urban Affairs, House of Representatives, One-hundredth Congress, Second Session, July 6, 1988 autocollapse Category:Heat waves in Canada Category:Droughts in the United States North American Drought, 1988 Category:Meteorological events in 1988 Category:1988 natural disasters Category:20th-century heat waves Category:Meteorological events in 1989 Category:1989 natural disasters North American Drought, 1989 Category:1988 in Canada Category:1989 in Canada Category:1980s droughts Category:1990s droughts North American Drought, 1990 Category:Meteorological events in 1990 Category:1990 natural disasters