Topic: Drought

Topic

World’s wettest rainstorms are getting wetter, affecting flood and drought risk

Events that deliver about half of global rainfall are getting shorter but more intense, with wide-ranging implications The world’s wettest rainstorms produce about half of the global annual rainfall. Now a study shows that these intense downpours have become shorter in duration and fewer in number, compressing the same amount of rain into quicker and more extreme events, with implications for flood and drought risk. Chiyuan Miao and colleagues from Beijing Normal University in China analysed daily measurements between 1980 and 2022 from more than 19,000 rain gauges around the world. They found

5 Nov 2026, 08:26 UTC

World

Anthrax outbreak kills hippos in DR Congo’s Virunga National Park

Drought and conflict compound the threat to wildlife in eastern DR Congo.

2 Nov 2026, 09:18 UTC

World

Bolivia declares state of emergency over El Nino weather pattern

Drought is affecting 78,000 families and has led to loss of over 75,000 cattle, as El Nino due to peak in late 2026.

1 Nov 2026, 04:22 UTC

Business

The IPO drought is driving private equity-owned companies to the debt market to pay investors

Private equity firms are increasingly using debt-funded dividend recaps to return cash to investors as exits remain subdued.

16 Oct 2026, 05:57 UTC

Science

Severe drought declared and hosepipe bans in force - is your area affected?

Parts of southern England have entered "severe drought", while about 30 million people are under hosepipe ban.

15 Oct 2026, 16:40 UTC

World

Conflict, drought increasing risk of famine in Sudan: Monitor

El Nino-induced drought is affecting roughly half of the country as three-year long war continues.

12 Oct 2026, 21:58 UTC

Science

Fighting Drought in Texas Cotton Country

Drought and an ailing aquifer were major topics of conversation when NASA scientists visited with farmers in the Texas High Plains.

8 Oct 2026, 05:32 UTC

Weather

Weatherwatch: soil moisture deficit – how dry are the UK’s thirsty soils?

SMD is the moisture the soil must make up until it is at capacity, with very dry conditions over most of England and Wales When the ground is thoroughly wet, after excess rainwater has run off it is said to be at field capacity. Meteorologists describe drought in terms of soil moisture deficit (SMD) from field capacity. The SMD is a measure of how thirsty the soil is, expressed as how many millimetres of rain it would take to top it up to field capacity. In southern England, the SMD tends to hover around zero in winter when fields are wet. In summer it may be about 100mm, going up to 150mm or

18 Sept 2026, 11:05 UTC