Even in wetter summers, drought set to be a perennial problem

Scientists say global heating was a destabilising factor in collapse of 200,000 sq metre glacier in August

Drought is a major constraint on freshwater availability, ecosystem functioning, and food security1,2,3,4, and its evolution under global warming remains a central concern in climate impact assessments5,6,7. Numerous studies have reported increasing drought severity and expanding drought-affected areas over recent decades8,9,10,11,12, drawing on converging evidence from multivariate atmospheric drought indices, which combine precipitation with atmospheric evaporative demand (potential evapotranspiration (PET), calculated from near-surface atmospheric variables) to infer surface drought conditions5,11,13, together with independent, hydrological evidence such as observation-calibrated soil moisture reconstructions14, remotely sensed terrestrial water storage15, and observed streamflow declines16. However, substantial quantitative uncertainties remain specifically in the magnitude of drought trends inferred from PET-based drought indices, as such inferences depend critically on how atmospheric evaporative demand is estimated17,18,19,20. Given that PET-based indices remain among the most widely used tools for characterizing large-scale, long-term drought variability owing to their global data coverage and standardized formulation, these uncertainties arguably affect our ability to anticipate future hydroclimatic impacts and complicate downstream adaptation decision-making. Beyond the qualitative consensus of drought intensification, whether hydroclimatic extremes are accelerating (i.e., intensifying at an increasing rate) has recently emerged as a pertinent scientific question, motivated by two related lines of evidence: recent reports that global surface warming...

There is a dark blizzard of disinformation online, where our capital is described as a lawless dystopia in decline — this couldn’t be further from the truth

We have changed the climate in which our weather happens

Forests worldwide are increasingly exposed to soil drought under climate change, with their fates depending on the ability to maintain essential fu...

Education is at a crossroads, argues the author and academic. Should we embrace new technology in the name of efficiency, or is it time to fight back?

Astronomers warn it would tear the heart out of UK science, and leave a generation untrained.

Net Zero and beyond: measuring climate risks, managing trade‑offs, and enabling adaptation – Microsoft Teams, Wed 22 Jul 2026 - Join us to discover the advancements in science made through our Nationa...

This Perspective synthesizes ten key insights from drought research for policy and practice, and identifies priority research gaps to strengthen drought governance and resilience.

Matt Taylor looks at new research that shows that a repeat today of the weather patterns that brought the 1976 heatwave would bring even more extreme heat.

Prepared by scientists at the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, the Good Practice Guide provides a globally applicable framework for monitoring drought hazard, exposure, and vulnerability.

Machine learning has its limits—how is it being used?

Our roadmap has been shaped by experts across the world. We call on political leaders at all levels to use it, says Olivier De Schutter and others