Drought
Drought, or Drouth, an extended dry period, with rainfall far below the average. Semiarid regions, such as those found in much of the Great Plains of North America and the interiors of most other continents, are the regions where serious droughts are most likely to occur. However, there are periodic occurrences of drought in nearly all climatic zones.
Although they may last for years, droughts are most strongly felt in summer months when high temperatures increase evaporation. If the drought is severe, crops wither and die and livestock and other animals perish. Streams and reservoirs dry up and wind erosion, which strips land of its fertile topsoil, takes place. Most of these consequences were felt in the drought of the 1930's, which turned a large part of the southern Great Plains into what was called the Dust Bowl. In the severest cases widespread economic hardship, famines, and epidemics result; such droughts in the past have led to millions of deaths in China, India, and parts of Africa.