Drought now covers 99.8% of Oklahoma, and more than half the state is in the two most serious categories, according to federal data valid Sept. 22. The latest state profile places 31.3% of Oklahoma in extreme drought and 20.8% in exceptional drought.
The remaining drought area is divided between severe drought, covering 36.3% of the state, and moderate drought, covering 11.4%. Only 0.2% is classified as abnormally dry rather than in drought. Together, the five shares account for the entire state and show how little land remains outside a formal drought category.
The figures come from the U.S. Drought Monitor map released Thursday, Sept. 24, using observations valid through Tuesday morning. The Monitor is jointly produced by federal and university partners and combines precipitation, soil moisture, streamflow and other physical indicators with reports from local observers. Its weekly narrative described a continuing hot-and-dry pattern across the South, even as heavy rain improved conditions farther north.
Oklahoma entered September with an unusually deep precipitation deficit. The National Centers for Environmental Information found that the state received less than 30% of its normal August precipitation, making August 2026 Oklahoma’s fifth-driest August on record. That finding appears in NOAA’s monthly review, which also documented drought expansion across the southern Plains.
National context reinforces the scale of the problem without diminishing Oklahoma’s exposure. As of Sept. 22, drought covered 59.24% of the Lower 48 states, according to the federal conditions report. Oklahoma’s 99.8% share is therefore far above the national footprint, while its 52.1% combined extreme-or-exceptional area signals risks that go beyond a short dry spell.
Those classifications are not themselves orders to restrict water use, reduce livestock herds or declare an emergency. State and local officials make those decisions using additional water-supply, agricultural and public-safety information. The categories do, however, have practical federal consequences: the Agriculture Department uses sustained severe drought or any period of higher-intensity drought as a basis for fast-track disaster designations and related loan eligibility, as explained in its recovery guidance.
For farmers and ranchers, the immediate concerns include pasture stress, declining soil moisture, livestock water and the cost of supplemental feed. For communities, the relevant indicators include reservoir levels, groundwater and local fire danger. The Drought Monitor cautions that states may rely on additional data for their own declarations and water planning, so the map should be read as a common baseline rather than a complete operating decision.
The next weekly map will show whether late-September rainfall changes the statewide percentages. Until then, the central fact is unusually broad and intense dryness: essentially all of Oklahoma is in drought, and just over one-fifth of its land area is in the Monitor’s most severe category. Local conditions may still differ substantially within each statewide classification.
