Question

What is drought? When does drought occur?

Answer 1

Drought is a long period without rains leading to a severe shortage of water in the region. The soil continues to lose water by evaporation and transpiration. If, however, it does rain at all or the rainfall is very low for a long period, the loss of water from the soil is not made up and hence the soil becomes dry. Due to lack of rains, the water level in the lakes and ponds also goes down and some of them may even dry up completely. In the absence of rains, no water seeps into the ground and hence the level of groundwater in wells, etc., falls drastically. Due to this groundwater also becomes scarce. In this way, a prolonged period of no rains or very low rains causes an all-around shortage of water leading to drought.