Dryness on a scale of bad to severe

BEIJING - A drought refers to water scarcity over an extended period of time, due to a misbalance between water demand and supply. It occurs with deficiencies of precipitation, lack of soil moisture or low water levels in sources such as rivers and lakes.

The main types of droughts include meteorological, agricultural, hydrological and socio-economic droughts.

The China Meteorological Administration outlines the following four levels of meteorological droughts.