Way up north, all is watery and Well: Yup, Alaska Is America’s Only Drought-Free State

Something is happening in the U.S. that has not happened in record memory. According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, only one state is not suffering from drought of some kind.

Yes, it’s Alaska.

READ MORE ABOUT DROUGHT CONDITIONS IN THE U.S.
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But it’s not normally alone. What is unusual about current U.S. drought conditions is that many states are rarely on the list of dry areas. This includes the Northeast, where some areas recently went without rain for 45 days. Meanwhile, parts of Ohio are suffering from “exceptional drought,” the worst level in the U.S. Drought Monitor index. Next door, West Virginia is nearly as dry. This has caused the Ohio River level to drop, which has affected the Mississippi River, into which the Ohio flows, meaning that barges that carry freight south on the Mississippi cannot move and undermining the supply chain for agricultural and other goods. 

Beaches bashed
Meanwhile, the West Coast has gone from drought-stricken to being the victim of bomb cyclones that have devasted all three states on the left of the U.S. Rivers of water at 40,000 feet above sea level have carried moisture from the middle Pacific Ocean to the coasts of California, Oregon and Washington, causing beach erosion and landslides. The damage done to homes along the coast runs into the tens of millions of dollars. 

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