PlainHazard

Puerto Rico drought

Every recorded drought record since 1996 · 72 counties with a record

NOAA's Storm Events Database records 48 drought records in Puerto Rico from 1996 through June 30, 2026, about 6.7 a year since 2000. The costliest was the March 1, 2005 drought ($6.0 million in 2025 dollars). Puerto Rico ranks 43rd of 51 states and territories by count and 36th of 50 per square mile.

Drought in Puerto Rico, 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
481996 to June 30, 2026
A year since 2000
6.7average
Deaths
00 injuries
Damage, 2025 dollars
$6.0Mas filed
Busiest year
202216 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 Puerto Rico?

Puerto Rico averages about 6.7 drought records a year since 2000, 43rd of 51 states and territories by count. The busiest year on record was 2022 (16). Per 10,000 square miles of land, Puerto Rico records 140 drought records since 1996, 36th 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. 36. Puerto Rico 140

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 Puerto Rico have the most drought records?

Per square mile, Ponce Municipio leads Puerto Rico: 7 days with a drought record since 1996, 60.9 per 1,000 square miles of land. By raw count, Ponce Municipio has the most drought records (7 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. Ponce Municipio 60.9 (7)
  2. Arecibo Municipio 47.6 (6)
  3. Utuado Municipio 17.6 (2)

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 Puerto Rico?

Puerto Rico's drought records by month. The busiest month is March (11 records).

The values, month by month

Jan 0 · Feb 3 · Mar 11 · Apr 2 · May 0 · Jun 8 · Jul 10 · Aug 3 · Sep 4 · Oct 0 · Nov 0 · Dec 7 (records).

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

The costliest drought records in Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico: the most damaging storms since 1993, 2025 dollars
DateRecordCharacterKilledInjuredDamage
2005-03-01 DroughtCabo Rojo Municipio and 2 more · forecast zone Southwest One storm episode: 3 records in 3 places; the totals are the episode's. 0 0 $6.0M

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 Puerto Rico?

Puerto Rico'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: Puerto Rico and the United States by decade (2020s to June 30, 2026)
DecadePuerto RicoUnited StatesPuerto Rico's share
1996-9985,6000.14%
2000s1518,5710.08%
2010s131,4410.00%
2020-262430,1470.08%

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database.

The most recent drought records in Puerto Rico

The 3 most recent records, to June 30, 2026
DateRecordCharacterKilledInjuredDamage
2005-03-01 DroughtCabo Rojo Municipio and 2 more · forecast zone Southwest 0 0 $4.5M
2005-03-01 DroughtGuayanilla Municipio and 5 more · forecast zone Ponce And Vicinity 0 0 $1.5M
2005-03-01 DroughtGuayama Municipio and 4 more · forecast zone Southeast 0 0 $1.5M

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 Puerto Rico

FEMA has declared 2 disasters in Puerto Rico for drought, counting its incident type and declarations that name the hazard in the title (FEMA files most storm disasters under Severe Storm); one was a major disaster, the latest on August 29, 1974.

The 12 most recent
DeclaredNumberTitleAreas named
1974-08-29EM-3002Impact of Drought24
1964-05-26DR-170Extreme Drought Conditions1

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

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