Why the US is suffering a widespread drought

Floating homes and boats rest in mud.
Floating homes and boats rest in mud at Riverside Park Marina in Martin Luther King Jr. Riverside Park along the Mississippi River on October 19th, 2022, in Memphis, Tennessee, as the Mississippi River neared record low levels. | Photo by Scott Olson / Getty Images

Huge swathes of the United States are unusually parched. While drought has been a persistent problem in the western US, it’s now spread across other parts of the country that aren’t typically this dry.

Nearly 60 percent of the contiguous US is experiencing drought, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Drought hasn’t been this widespread in the nation in about a decade, and over 80 percent of the country is at least experiencing “abnormally dry” conditions, according to the US Drought Monitor — a first in the drought monitor’s 22-year history.

Drought has sparked treasure hunts...

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