Nearly Half of the U.S. Is in Drought. It May Get Worse.

The most widespread drought in the continental United States since 2013 covers more than 45 percent of the Lower 48 states, federal scientists said.

Nearly half of the continental United States is gripped by drought, government forecasters said Thursday, and conditions are expected to worsen this winter across much of the Southwest and South.

Mike Halpert, deputy director of the Climate Prediction Center, a part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said a lack of late-summer rain in the Southwest had expanded “extreme and exceptional” dry conditions from West Texas into Colorado and Utah, “with significant drought also prevailing westward through Nevada, Northern California and the Pacific Northwest.”

Much of the Western half of the country is now experiencing drought conditions and parts of the Ohio Valley and the Northeast are as well, Mr. Halpert said during a teleconference announcing NOAA’s weather outlook for this winter.

This is the most widespread drought in the continental United States since 2013, he said, covering more than 45 percent of the Lower 48 states.

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