WCD-16. Seasonal droughts are speeding up in the United States

Abstract
Droughts have been traditionally characterized as a slow process that requires seasons or even years to fully develop. Recent fast-evolving drying events, however, have challenged our forecasting and response capabilities. In this context, a fundamental question emerges: are droughts setting in more quickly in the United States? We find that median drought intensification rates did not change significantly in 1979-2018. Conversely, development of the most rapid onset droughts (i.e., 95th quantile intensification rate) started to increase in ~2005 across most of the country, resulting in events up to 10 times quicker than the fastest seasonal droughts of the previous 14 years. These intensification rates are similar to or higher than those registered during the fastest-developing droughts of the 20th century.