Drought

Droughts develop during prolonged periods of unusually low rainfall, reducing the water available for households, farming and ecosystems. Heatwaves and droughts can occur together, but they are different hazards: one concerns temperature, the other a shortage of rainfall.

A storm can change a channel within hours, while a drought can reduce flow for weeks or months. Climate is the long-term pattern of weather: it influences how often rivers experience high or low flows and how much weathered material is available to move.

Climate change is an indirect threat: it changes the environmental conditions in which the forest lives, causing ecosystem stress, including drought.

A drought could become longer or more severe without there being more separate drought events. These distinctions matter when assessing whether hazards have changed over time.