Flash droughts are likely to become increasingly common, say researchers

A flash drought had dried out grasslands before wildfires devastated Maui, Hawaii, in August. Photograph: Yuki Iwamura/AFP/Getty Images

You’ve heard of flash floods but what about flash droughts? Droughts that intensify quickly used to be very rare but over the past 20 years they have become more frequent and intense. And because they come on suddenly, they are more difficult to prepare for.

This year a flash drought dried out grasslands in Hawaii, intensifying the devastating wildfires that swept across the island of Maui. In 2012, at the peak of the corn growing season, a flash drought hit much of the US, resulting in significantly lower crop yields.