#	Name	Reg	St	En	DS	DI	DA	Sc	Remarks
1	Scandinavia, Russia 1952	NEE	12/51	09/52	15.9	1.6	46.1	13	Pan-European drought in the early 1950's.
2	U.S. (Texas) and Mexico 1951-57	CAM CNA ENA	12/51 09/52 07/55	06/54 05/57 06/56	35.0 83.8 19.6	1.1 1.5 1.6	30.8 40.7 32.5	13 17 14	Southern Texas, Northern Mexico above all, low precipitation. Severe as the Dust Bowl in the 1930's, involved mostly Central and Southern Great Plains, Central U.S. but also Eastern US and Florida.
3	Central Australia 1957-58	SAU	09/57	09/58	20.4	1.6	60.9	14	Central Australia, especially the outback, little long-term damages to vegetation.
4	UK, Northern Europe, Russia 1959-60	NEU NEE	06/59 06/59	08/60 06/61	30.7 39.1	2.0 1.6	60.0 40.7	18 17	Excessive sunshine, very low cloudiness, low humidity, heatwave, impacts on crops especially in the U.K. In Russia and Eastern Europe, yield decrease (especially grains) was remarkable.
5	Argentina, Uruguay 1961-64	CSA SSA	11/61 03/62	10/64 08/63	53.4 26.3	1.5 1.5	34.6 45.8	15 14	La Niña event caused dry conditions over Eastern Southern South America. This event was similar to the one in 1988, droughts linked with La Niña are uncommon
6	Tibetan Plateau 1962-64	TIB	07/62	01/64	25.7	1.4	32.9	12	Low precipitation from 1961 onwards, effects in 1962. Anomalous circulations over Pacific and Indian Ocean, together with anomalous monsoon season partly drove the drought.
7	North-Eastern U.S., Great Plains 1962-64	ENA CNA	06/62 06/63	07/64 01/65	34.1 28.4	1.3 1.4	32.4 33.5	12 14	Northeastern North America involved, New York City experienced problems. This event was a break during wetting trend years. Unusually long dry-inducing atmosphere circulation, extreme negative Northern Atlantic Oscillation, and Northern Pacific sea surface temperature anomalies.
8	Argentina, La Plata Basin 1967-72	CSA SSA	01/67 05/68	01/72 10/72	77.1 49.8	1.3 0.9	31.5 33.8	16 13	Central and Western part of Southern South America, involved in particular semi-arid areas, but also the La Plata river basin. Negative seas surface temperature anomaly due to El Niño, corn productivity decreased in many areas in this region.
9	Alaska, Canada 1969-70	ALA	01/69	08/70	31.5	1.6	40.7	16	1969 was an exceptional year for forest fires, reinforced by drought in Alaska and Canada
10	Australian Queensland 1969-70	NAU	08/69	03/71	25.3	1.3	51.6	14	Queensland drought in 1969-70 was mainly due to prolonged lack of rain.
11	India 1972-73	SAS	07/72	07/73	26.4	2.0	43.0	18	Circulation anomalies (hypothesis), summer monsoon was anomalous.
12	European Russia 1972-73	NEE	06/72	09/73	33.3	2.1	47.9	16	Very dry winter in Eastern Europe and Russia, where some rivers recorded lowest levels of the 20th century.
13	Tibetan Plateau, Mongolia 1974-76	TIB	05/74	07/76	33.3	1.2	31.7	12	-
14	U.K., Baltic Republic, Russia 1975-77	NEE NEU	05/75 12/75	08/76 06/77	34.6 35.8	2.2 1.9	54.9 56.7	17 17	The drought involved the Baltic countries and moved eastwards in 1976 until the Caspian Sea. Drought due to low/very low rainfall, especially over England and Wales.
15	U.S. Great Plains 1976-77	CNA	07/76	11/77	33.0	1.9	46.5	17	Spring drought (1997 and afterwards), due to very dry weather conditions over Central and Western United States
16	Western U.S., Central Plains 1977-82	ALA CNA	09/76 07/80	09/81 04/82	54.4 31.0	0.9 1.4	29.1 38.1	12 14	Extensive drought over the Central Plains, in summer 1980 an exceptional heatwave (up to + 4.5°C), lack of cloud cover caused relative humidity to be very low during the day also over Central U.S. However, precipitation were not so low.
17	Southeast Asia, Pacific Islands 1982-83	SEA	10/82	11/83	24.7	1.8	45.2	15	Coupled with a strong El Niño event (anomalous climate conditions), this drought hit Indonesia, Papua, the Philippines, Borneo, northern Australia.
18	Sahel drought 1983-88	WAF EAF	03/83 02/84	07/88 08/85	99.2 39.9	1.5 2.1	45.7 49.0	18 17	The mid-1980’s Sahel drought was driven by low precipitation from the early 1980s and resulted in extended desiccation and degradation of large areas. The drought hit Ethiopia in 1983-84 with important impacts.
19	Conterminous United States 1985-91	ENA CNA WNA	05/85 10/87 10/87	05/89 11/90 05/91	61.9 46.6 50.9	1.3 1.2 1.2	29.1 36.2 31.6	14 15 12	Very long drought in the conterminous U.S., sources report 4-7 years of consecutive drought conditions. This is also considered a soil moisture and runoff drought. Vegetation impacts were outstanding and could be clearly seen on satellite images.
20	Patagonia 1988-90	SSA	11/88	03/90	31.6	1.9	55.9	16	Drought over Patagonia and Central Southern South America, with large impacts on grain production and hydroelectric power production. Coupled with La Niña event.
21	Balkans, Greece 1989-91	MED	03/89	06/91	35.4	1.3	33.0	14	Low precipitation over Greece and the Balkans triggered drought conditions.
22	Philippines, Indonesia 1992-93	SEA	10/91	07/95	47.1	1.0	30.2	13	Strong (but not exceptional) 1991-92 El Niño event, drought involved the Philippines (large impacts) and Indonesia.
23	Northeastern Brazil 1992-93	AMZ	01/92	10/93	30.9	1.4	35.7	12	Drought followed a dry period in northeastern Brazil and the Amazon forest.
24	Southern Africa 1992-93	SAF	02/92	09/93	27.3	1.4	43.3	12	Rivers dried, millions of cattle died, cereal production dropped, 86 million people affected, malnutrition problems in Zimbabwe.
25	Western U.S., Mexico 1994-97	ALA WNA	08/94 07/94	06/97 05/95	50.7 15.0	1.5 1.4	37.4 36.5	15 13	Drought hit more Western and Southwestern U.S. in 1995-96. Over Northern Mexico, the Rio Bravo region suffered the largest impacts.
26	South Africa, Botswana 1995-96	SAF	12/94	01/96	23.5	1.7	52.4	14	Drought over South Africa and Botswana, named the worst drought in 70 years in the Crocodile river catchment. Groundwater was used as emergency source.
27	U.K., France, Denmark 1996-97	NEE	02/96	04/97	22.3	1.5	35.7	12	United Kingdom and Denmark involved above all, hydrological issues, many river catchments in England recorded low levels.
28	Southeast Asia 1997-98 (El Nino)	SEA TIB	09/97 08/97	12/98 07/98	34.0 18.3	2.1 1.5	53.7 32.9	19 13	Drought coupled with El Niño event in 1997-98. Relevant forest impacts, summer climatic anomalies. In southeastern Asia and the Pacific Islands, El Niño 1997-98 was a super event. Over Borneo, Indonesia, and Eastern Asia fires aggravated drought and vice versa.
29	Central Amazonia 1997-99	AMZ	10/97	03/99	29.3	1.6	40.6	13	Increased mortality rate of trees in Central Amazon.
30	Central Asia, Pakistan, China 1999-03	CAS EAS	02/99 08/99	03/02 08/03	71.0 61.1	1.9 1.3	52.5 31.9	19 12	Cold sea surface temperature anomalies over the Indian Ocean and the Western Pacific. Worst drought in Pakistan and Afghanistan in 50 years. Drought peaked over northern China and the Yangtze river basin was heavily impacted, causing great crop losses.
31	Western U.S. and Canada 2000-04	WNA	07/00	08/04	58.8	1.2	31.7	15	This drought peaked in 2002, lasted from 2000 to 2004 and was defined the worst in 800 years regarding impacts on forests and empty rivers. Carbon sequestration cut by 51%.
32	Balkans, Greece, Cyprus 2000-02	MED	06/00	09/02	40.1	1.4	38.9	14	Drought over southeastern Europe, the Balkans, Greece, and countries over the Aegean Sea. A combination of hot summer temperatures and low rainfall was the cause.
33	India 2002-03	SAS	06/02	09/03	24.5	1.5	38.9	14	All-India drought year, big problems for agriculture in Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu. Anomalous monsoon caused floods after drought.
34	Tropical Africa, Congo river basin 2002-06	EAF EQF	05/02 11/03	07/03 11/06	21.9 54.1	1.5 1.5	34.7 36.1	13 18	More than one African region affected, wide surface involved, groundwater affected over central Africa. Forest degradation and decreased greenness could be observed with remote sensing images over forests in the Congo river basin.
35	European heatwave-drought 2003	NEU	03/03	08/04	31.5	1.8	51.0	16	Summer 2003 heatwave over central Europe caused a lot of deaths (especially in France), primary productivity reduction, crop failures, impacts also on natural vegetation. The heatwave lasted from March to September.
36	SW China, Yangtze River basin 2004-10	EAS TIB	07/04 08/06	04/10 01/10	118.0 52.2	1.7 1.2	34.0 34.3	18 16	In 2006-07 an extreme drought hit Sichuan and the Yangtze river basin, causing a fall in production of rice, potatoes, and beans. The drought moved to Yunnan and Southwestern China in 2008-09. It was assumed that an anomalous monsoon season over India pushed extreme drought conditions over southwestern China.
37	U.S. Great Plains and Canada 2006-07	CNA	06/05	05/07	20.4	1.7	43.2	14	Drought in the U.S. Great Plains and Canada, causing impacts in many sectors. Positive pressure anomalies over Southwestern deserts combined with negative anomalies over the Great Lakes.
38	The Millennium Drought (Aus) 2006-10	SAU	10/06	08/10	51.7	1.1	41.9	13	The Millennium Drought lasted 5-8 years (in some areas 10 years). Declines in rainfall and runoff led to widespread crop failures, livestock losses, dust storms, and bushfires.
39	Southwestern Europe, Turkey 2007-08	MED	01/07	01/09	42.3	1.7	36.3	15	This drought had agricultural impacts over Turkey during a hot-dry summer. Also Cyprus and Greece were impacted, but with a lower degree of severity.
40	Argentina, Chile 2008-10	SSA	03/08	01/10	42.9	1.9	56.2	20	Considered one of the top droughts in the last five decades over Southern America. It resulted in vegetation, soil, and crop impacts.
41	Horn of Africa 2008-10	EAF	08/08	08/10	45.3	1.8	44.5	16	Due to prolonged low rainfall regimes, this drought pushed another drought (2011), but this time only over the easternmost part in the Horn of Africa.
42	Middle-East, Central Asia, India 2008-10	CAS SAS	03/08 06/09	09/09 08/10	30.2 27.3	1.8 1.8	54.2 38.8	16 15	Middle-East worst drought since decades: Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Middle-East reduced grain production, wheat production (-23%). Also Tajikistan was severely involved in 2009-10. India 2009 drought occurred during the summer monsoon season. Internal circulation and weather dynamics had the leading role for India.
43	Russian heatwave-drought 2010	NEE	07/10	07/12	32.3	1.3	34.4	13	The Russian mega-heatwave in 2010 forced drought and food insecurity. Large tundra and forest fires.
44	Central U.S. 2011-13	CNA	09/11	09/13	47.0	1.9	48.5	18	Very scarce spring precipitation caused this drought with no early warning. A dry summer prolonged the drought conditions.
45	U.K., Central-Southern Europe 2011-13	MED	10/11	08/13	33.3	1.5	37.4	15	Drought in 2011 over U.K. and then southern Europe in spring 2012. Main causes: dry periods in 2010-12 and high-pressure conditions. Lot of impacts on crop yields, water supplies, waterways, and health.
46	Southern U.S., Mexico 2011-13	CAM	08/11	10/13	29.0	1.1	33.9	12	Drought in Southern U.S. and Mexico started in winter 2010 and went on in 2011. Possible drivers: La Niña event in the tropical Pacific ocean, sea surface temperature anomalies, negative North Atlantic Oscillation in winter 2010-11.
47	China spring-summer 2011	EAS	04/11	06/12	24.4	1.6	33.9	12	Spring drought in 2011 over China, defined as once-in-a-50-year drought over the Yangtze river basin and the southern region. Shortage of drinking water for people and livestock, tremendous losses in agriculture and shipping industry.
48	U.S. and California drought 2011-14	ENA WNA	05/12 05/12	06/13 04/14	21.4 31.1	1.5 1.3	33.2 35.4	13 13	Flash drought over Central and Northeastern U.S., with soil moisture conditions changing rapidly. This drought includes the 2011-14 California drought, an unusual drought spread over New Mexico and northern Mexico. It was driven by high temperatures and low (but not exceptionally low) rainfall.
49	East Australia 2013-16	SAU	01/13	08/16	58.0	1.3	45.4	15	After the Millennium drought, in 2012-14 drought came back to Australia, especially over the East. It was due to long-term rainfall deficits. Also Queensland was hit.
50	South Africa 2015-16 (18)	SAF	02/15	12/16	43.8	1.9	54.4	19	This drought caused the Cape Town water crisis 2018, with reservoir volumes down to 19%. People collaborated to save water to avoid "day zero". After an agricultural drought in 2017-18, South Africa declared the state of national disaster in March 2018 (lifted in June 2018)
51	Mediterranean 2015-16 (17)	MED	11/15	12/16	24.6	1.8	41.5	17	Drought started in 2016 due to low rainfall, especially in Southern Europe; it was prolonged by a summer heatwave over southern Europe in 2017, especially over Italy and Northern Africa (up to 48°C).
52	Amazonia, central S-America 2015-16 (17)	AMZ CSA	10/15 04/16	12/16 12/16	35.8 12.7	2.4 1.4	49.7 47.8	16 12	El Niño event in 2015-16 forced drought over the Amazon forest with an unprecedented warming in eastern Amazonia (western Amazonia was wet). Eco-hydrological consequences from the 2016 drought are more severe and extensive than the 2005 and 2010 droughts. Human factors potentially contributed to drought severity.