The years 2001 and 2002 may have also brought the first coast-to-coast droughts on record, and were rare as they struck areas less accustomed to dealing with droughts including parts of Atlantic Canada and the northern agricultural prairies (see Figure 1). There are various adaptation processes or strategies including sharing and/or bearing the loss, modifying drought effects, research, education, behavioral changes, and avoidance. Northern Hemisphere snow cover variability and change, 1915–97, Journal of Climate, 13, 2339–2355. A plant tries to grow in cracked dry land. Many droughts happen because it is dry and some times not a lot of rainfall occurs. Thats mostly because of the droughts. Droughts happen when rain insufficiency hits a place for a long period of time, hence causing an acute water shortage.

Shabbar, A. and Khandekar, M. 1996.

Adjustments that occur after the drought are generally less effective compared to planned anticipatory adaptation.

Prolonged drought can cause a serious economic crisis while also posing threats to the human population and other living creatures as well. Droughts are less of a concern for northern Canada mainly due to their lower population densities. During the 20th century, mean annual air temperature has increased by around 1 °C over southern Canada with the greatest warming in the west and the largest rates during winter and spring. Though often confused with the dry spell, droughts often last longer and are more dangerous. Long-lasting impacts include soil degradation by wind erosion and deterioration of grasslands that could take decades and longer to recover. In general, El Niño is associated with warmer/drier winters while La Niña has an opposite effect. Nonetheless, there have been some major drought occurrences there as well during the 20th century.

Coincident with the large increases in spring temperature, the 1980s to the present have been associated with rapid reductions in snow cover during the second half of the snow season. Note that considerable uncertainty exists with respect to future precipitation, particularly on a regional basis. Bonsal, B.R., Chakravarti, A.K. From season to season — and from year to year — the amount of rain or snow in a location can vary. Sauchyn, D.J. Lower levels coincided with the droughts of the 1930s, early 1960s, and the recent 1999-2001 dry period. Bonsal, B.R., Shabbar, A. and Higuchi, K. 2001. Getty Images. The site monitors the risk and status of drought over major agricultural regions of the country and also promotes practices to reduce drought vulnerability.

Better management responses may be made with improved drought monitoring and advanced prediction. Trends in Canadian streamflow, Water Resources Research, 37, 987–998. Where Will A Drought Occur? and Wheaton, E. 1995. Indices used to measure drought show considerable decadal-scale variability with no long-term trends discernible in any portion of the country. Convective processes involve strong vertical motions that can cause the overturning of the atmosphere in that location within an hour and cause heavy precipitation, while stratiform processes involve weaker upward motions and less intense precipitation over a longer duration. Climate Research Branch, Meteorological Service of Canada, Environment Canada, Downsview, ON. Furthermore, there is little consensus regarding future changes to teleconnections and since these patterns have a significant impact on temperature and precipitation over Canada, insight into the relative occurrence of future drought remains a huge knowledge gap. The worst and most prolonged Canadian Prairie-wide droughts during the instrumental period occurred in the early part of the 20th century (1920s and 1930s). Canadian precipitation patterns associated with the Southern Oscillation, Journal of Climate, 10, 3016–3027.

During the past two centuries, at least 40 droughts have occurred in western Canada with multi-year episodes being observed in the 1890s, 1910s, 1930s, 1960s, 1980s, and the early 2000s. Droughts tend to persist.
A proxy record of drought severity for the southwestern Canadian plains, Canadian Water Resources Journal, 26, 253–272. Droughts are less of a concern for northern Canada mainly due to their lower population densities. Impacts of low frequency variability modes on Canadian winter temperature, International Journal of Climatology, 21, 95-108. and Lawford, R.G. Adaptive measures include soil and water conservation, improved irrigation, the construction of infrastructure (wells, pipelines, reservoirs), and the exploration of groundwater supplies. Learn More. In such a case, a country’s …

Over the same period, annual precipitation has significantly increased over most of southern Canada with the exception of southern Alberta and Saskatchewan. The two seasons a drought will occur are in summer and fall. These forcing factors directly influence local to regional atmospheric flow which in turn, can affect large-scale circulation over other areas of the globe (known as teleconnections). Drought prediction involves anticipating climatic anomalies that produce unusually dry conditions for an extended period. They most commonly occur in areas away from the coast. How do droughts happen? Droughts in the Atlantic Provinces occur even less frequently. Shabbar, A., Bonsal, B.R.

Credit: Josh Aarons/Unsplash [2] This was the worst drought for at least a hundred years in parts of the Canadian Prairies.
The 1-3 and 2-4 month forecasts are based upon an ensemble of 40 model runs. In British Columbia and Manitoba, hydro-electric generation was curtailed, necessitating additional purchases of power from neighboring jurisdictions.

The major factor in the onset and continuation of drought involves distinctive circulation patterns in the upper atmosphere. Drought as a natural disaster, Atmosphere-Ocean, 33, 195–222. Linkages between Canadian climate and teleconnections such as the Pacific Decadal Oscillation and the North Atlantic Oscillation are also evident, but mainly during the winter season. It is a relatively small country but with a population of 41 million. A drought is a period of time when an area or region experiences below-normal precipitation.The lack of adequate precipitation, either rain or snow, can cause reduced soil moisture or groundwater, diminished stream flow, crop damage, and a general water shortage.Droughts are the second-most costly weather events after hurricanes. Although most regions of Canada have experienced drought, many of the southern regions of the Canadian Prairies and interior British Columbia are most susceptible. Over the Prairies, the numbers and water levels of wetlands have shown no clear trend over the last 40 to 50 years. Climate models are projecting considerable increases to temperature and in general, small increases to precipitation over southern Canada. Meehl, G.A.

Droughts only occur when an area is abnormally dry.

Because they are caused by a reduction in the normal amount of rainfall a region receives, droughts can occur anywhere on the planet. They frequently stress water availability by depleting soil moisture, reducing stream flows, lowering lake and reservoir levels, and diminishing groundwater supplies. California is apart of these drought .As we all know they are going through a water shortage. Wheaton, E., Wittrock, V., Kulshreshtha, S., Koshida, G., Grant, C., Chipanshi, A. and Bonsal, B.R. Warm, dry springs are followed by hot, dry summers; warm summers follow other warm summers; and so on. Getty Images. and Yuzyk, T.R. Bonsal, B.R. This translates into future increases of summer continental interior drying and associated risk of droughts. and Stocker, T.F.

Over the last 30 to 50 years, average stream flow has decreased in many parts of Canada with significant reductions in the south.