Record number of states facing drought conditions

The U.S. has droughts in every state except Alaska and Kentucky — the greatest number in history, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

According to the tracker, just more than 45 percent of the U.S. and Puerto Rico and about 54 percent of the lower 48 states are in drought this week.

The 48 states experiencing moderate drought or worse this week is an increase of two states since last week and three since last month, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. This is up 71.8 percent since last month and 8.1 percent since last week.

More than 150 million people in the country and 149.8 million in the lower 48 states are affected by drought this week, a 34.4 percent increase since last week and a 153.5 percent increase since last month.

More than 318 million acres of crops in the country are experiencing drought conditions, the tracker showed. While this doesn’t reflect any increase since last week, it is a 57.1 percent uptick since last month, the monitor showed.

This comes as an October report revealed that the world’s water cycle — the movement of water between the Earth and atmosphere, such as water evaporation and precipitation — is out of balance “for the first time in human history.”

The Global Commission on the Economics of Water, which is made up of global experts, attributed the imbalance to “decades of collective mismanagement and undervaluation of water.”

The report had said that food systems are running out of fresh water and cities are sinking as aquifers beneath them dry up. More than half of the world’s food production is in an area where water supplies are expected to decrease, the report noted.