PlainHazard

Arkansas drought

Every recorded drought record since 1996 · 75 counties with a record

NOAA's Storm Events Database records 1,837 drought records in Arkansas from 1996 through June 30, 2026, about 95 a year since 2000. The costliest was the October 1, 2006 drought ($5.9 million in 2025 dollars). Arkansas ranks 14th of 51 states and territories by count and 16th of 50 per square mile.

Drought in Arkansas, 1996 to 2026

Drought records per year (NOAA Storm Events); 2026 to June 30, 2026.

  • recorded, no damage figure
  • under $1 million
  • $1 million or more
  • $10 million or more
  • $100 million or more, or 10 deaths
  • $1 billion or more, or 100 deaths
  • a year's colour: its recorded damage or deaths
  • a year with a death
Records
1,8371996 to June 30, 2026
A year since 2000
95average
Deaths
00 injuries
Damage, 2025 dollars
$13Mas filed
Busiest year
2012452 records

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records through June 30, 2026; deaths and damage as filed, damage in 2025 dollars. Search the record at NCEI.

Are drought records common in Arkansas?

Arkansas averages about 95 drought records a year since 2000, 14th of 51 states and territories by count. The busiest year on record was 2012 (452). Per 10,000 square miles of land, Arkansas records 353 drought records since 1996, 16th of 50 states and territories by that measure.

  1. 1. Hawaii 2624
  2. 2. New Jersey 1205
  3. 3. Delaware 1062
  4. 4. Oklahoma 971
  5. 5. Georgia 900
  6. 6. Texas 711
  7. 7. New Mexico 528
  8. 8. Alabama 527
  9. 9. Tennessee 477
  10. 10. Iowa 466
  11. 16. Arkansas 353

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records since 1996, per 10,000 square miles of land area (Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer; places under 1,000 square miles not ranked). Damage colours: Storm Events damage, 2025 dollars.

Which counties in Arkansas have the most drought records?

Per square mile, Sevier County leads Arkansas: 53 days with a drought record since 1996, 94.0 per 1,000 square miles of land. By raw count, Sevier County has the most drought records (53 since 1996); large counties collect more records simply by covering more ground, so the ranking counts days with a record per unit of area (a storm filed for several forecast zones adds several records but one day).

  1. Sevier County 94.0 (53)
  2. Little River County 90.4 (48)
  3. Howard County 83.4 (49)
  4. Lafayette County 77.4 (41)
  5. Sebastian County 77.2 (41)
  6. Miller County 73.7 (46)
  7. Crawford County 70.6 (44)
  8. Franklin County 65.7 (42)
  9. Lee County 63.4 (51)
  10. Carroll County 60.3 (38)
  11. Phillips County 57.9 (40)
  12. Hempstead County 56.4 (41)

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, days with a record in the county since 1996 per 1,000 square miles of land (Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer); in brackets, the count of records.

When is drought season in Arkansas?

Arkansas's drought records by month. The busiest month is November (257 records).

The values, month by month

Jan 147 · Feb 132 · Mar 123 · Apr 78 · May 45 · Jun 104 · Jul 118 · Aug 188 · Sep 244 · Oct 229 · Nov 257 · Dec 172 (records).

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records by the month they began, since 1996.

The costliest drought records in Arkansas

Arkansas: the most damaging storms since 1993, 2025 dollars
DateRecordCharacterKilledInjuredDamage
2006-10-01 DroughtChicot County · forecast zone Chicot One storm episode: 2 records in 2 places; the totals are the episode's. 0 0 $5.9M
2023-10-01 DroughtAshley County · forecast zone Ashley One storm episode: 2 records in 2 places; the totals are the episode's. 0 0 $1.9M
2010-07-15 DroughtAshley County · forecast zone Ashley One storm episode: 2 records in 2 places; the totals are the episode's. 0 0 $1.4M
2010-10-01 DroughtAshley County · forecast zone Ashley One storm episode: 2 records in 2 places; the totals are the episode's. 0 0 $812K
2010-09-01 DroughtAshley County · forecast zone Ashley One storm episode: 2 records in 2 places; the totals are the episode's. 0 0 $812K
2010-08-01 DroughtAshley County · forecast zone Ashley One storm episode: 2 records in 2 places; the totals are the episode's. 0 0 $812K
2010-08-01 DroughtDesha County · forecast zone Desha 0 0 $271K

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database: property and crop damage as estimated by the National Weather Service, in 2025 dollars.

Are drought records becoming more frequent in Arkansas?

Arkansas's count per decade against the whole country's, and its share. NOAA recorded every event type only from 1996, so earlier decades are not comparable; the share of the national total is the fairer comparison across decades.

Drought: Arkansas and the United States by decade (2020s to June 30, 2026)
DecadeArkansasUnited StatesArkansas's share
1996-9965,6000.1%
2000s14618,5710.8%
2010s1,35831,4414.3%
2020-2632730,1471.1%

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database.

The most recent drought records in Arkansas

The 12 most recent records, to June 30, 2026
DateRecordCharacterKilledInjuredDamage
2026-06-01 DroughtChicot County · forecast zone Chicot 0 0 –
2026-06-01 DroughtAshley County · forecast zone Ashley 0 0 –
2026-06-01 DroughtMiller County · forecast zone Miller 0 0 –
2026-06-01 DroughtLafayette County · forecast zone Lafayette 0 0 –
2026-06-01 DroughtUnion County · forecast zone Union 0 0 –
2026-06-01 DroughtSevier County · forecast zone Sevier 0 0 –
2026-06-01 DroughtNevada County · forecast zone Nevada 0 0 –
2026-06-01 DroughtLittle River County · forecast zone Little River 0 0 –
2026-06-01 DroughtHoward County · forecast zone Howard 0 0 –
2026-06-01 DroughtHempstead County · forecast zone Hempstead 0 0 –
2026-06-01 DroughtColumbia County · forecast zone Columbia 0 0 –
2026-06-01 DroughtCrittenden County · forecast zone Crittenden 0 0 –

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records through June 30, 2026; the newest months are revised by NCEI as reports arrive. Search the record at NCEI.

Federal disaster declarations for drought records in Arkansas

FEMA has declared 1 disaster in Arkansas for drought, counting its incident type and declarations that name the hazard in the title (FEMA files most storm disasters under Severe Storm); 0 were major disasters, the latest on December 3, 1976.

The 12 most recent
DeclaredNumberTitleAreas named
1976-12-03EM-3019Drought32

Source: FEMA OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries (v2), through October 2, 2026. OpenFEMA dataset page.

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