flash drought
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of flash drought
First recorded in 2005–10
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
On Wednesday the Environment Agency declared a "flash drought" across more than half of England, where water is being used up much faster than nature can replenish it.
From BBC ● Jul. 31, 2026
Ramseyer advocates for additional research into understanding the relationship between flash drought events and economic losses and how future drought events can be better communicated to stakeholders and communities.
From Science Daily ● Dec. 15, 2023
As in Maui, the landscape around Gatlinburg had dried rapidly in what scientists call a flash drought, which was caused by a combination of heat, low humidity and high winds.
From Scientific American ● Aug. 23, 2023
This week, the deadly combination of flash drought and an off-shore hurricane — both increasingly common conditions as global temperatures rise — produced a catastrophic fire that destroyed the historic city of Lahaina.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 11, 2023
New England, typically one of the wetter U.S. regions, experienced a flash drought in the summer of 2022, with areas including Boston and Rhode Island receiving only a fraction of their normal rainfall.
From Salon ● Nov. 22, 2022
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
