2002 North American drought

The drought of 2002 began around spring and spread over numerous states, including Nebraska, Iowa, Colorado, Wyoming and Utah.

The Midwestern states and Mississippi Valley for contrast had a quite wet summer as most rainfall from frontal systems fell in that region.

This was much the same weather pattern as the earlier 1999 North American drought, but in 2002 a secondary and unusual event happened when a high pressure system formed over the Gulf of Mexico, a rare occurrence during the summer months.

Precipitation deficits were greatest from New Jersey southward to Georgia and less so in New York and New England with the Great Lakes states and the Mississippi watershed being unusually wet.

A shift to an El Nino pattern in fall 2002 brought about wetter, cooler conditions for much of 2003-04 which erased the precipitation deficits from the 1998-02 drought events.