Puerto Rico’s solar farms and wind turbines kept generating power while a record drought swallowed nearly half the island that was supposed to be drenched in rain
May is supposed to bring relief to Puerto Rico. The wet season arrives, the skies open up, and reservoirs begin to recover from the dry months behind them. That’s the island’s normal rhythm.
In 2026, the rain never came. Instead of a seasonal reset, Puerto Rico watched drought conditions spread with unusual speed — and by late August, nearly half the territory had fallen into extreme drought, on land that was supposed to be drenched.
From wet season to water crisis in three months
What makes 2026 so striking is how fast the reversal happened. Late winter and early spring had actually been wetter than normal across Puerto Rico and the broader U.S. Caribbean — conditions that gave almost no warning of what was coming. Then May arrived, the wet season was supposed to take hold, and the rain just stopped.
The scale of the crisis prompted action at both levels of government — Puerto Rico’s governor declared a state of emergency in late July, followed by a U.S.
The shift was swift and severe. In mid-May, no part of Puerto Rico was classified as being in drought, and less than 20 percent of the territory was even considered abnormally dry. By August 25, three-quarters of the island had fallen into at least moderate drought. Extreme drought — the dark orange zones on monitoring maps — had expanded through eastern and southwestern areas, covering 44 percent of the territory.
Three months. That was all it took.
Rainfall deficits and record heat drove the crisis
The numbers behind the drought are stark. From mid-May through mid-July, most of Puerto Rico received less than 60 percent of its normal precipitation. Southern and southwestern areas fared far worse, receiving less than 20 percent of expected rainfall — deficits ranging from 3 to 6 inches, roughly 76 to 152 millimeters, of missing rain across the island.
Heat compounded everything. San Juan experienced one of its warmest Julys on record, accelerating evaporation and deepening stress on soils and vegetation. River levels responded accordingly. The Río Fajardo in northeastern Puerto Rico hit record-low streamflow, a signal that the drought wasn’t just atmospheric — it had worked its way into the land itself.
Residents, farmers, and ranchers bear the impact
For people living through it, the drought isn’t an abstraction. Water rationing went into effect in several municipalities by early August, and observers noted that existing infrastructure problems amplified the shortages. Communities were managing a natural crisis on top of an ongoing structural one.
Agriculture took a serious hit. Dry soils disrupted fruit trees, cacao, banana, and coffee plants, contributing to significant crop losses across the island. Ranchers faced a separate but related pressure: hay supplies began to dwindle, putting livestock operations at risk. The scale of the crisis prompted action at both levels of government — Puerto Rico’s governor declared a state of emergency in late July, followed by a U.S. drought disaster declaration covering more than two dozen cities and towns.
NASA satellites and scientists join the drought-monitoring effort
Behind the maps that informed those declarations is a long-running collaboration. The U.S. Drought Monitor has published weekly drought assessments since 1999, produced through a partnership involving NASA, NOAA, the USDA, and the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
In 2026, NASA’s involvement deepened in a specific way. David Mocko, a senior research scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, and Jonathan Case of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center became the first scientists from the agency to produce the weekly assessments themselves. Mocko prepared the August 18 update — one of the maps capturing the drought’s rapid expansion. The data feeding into those assessments included satellite estimates of soil moisture, weather measurements, streamflow readings, and well conditions, each adding a layer of clarity to what was happening on the ground and beneath it.
What comes next for Puerto Rico
The drought disaster declaration offers some near-term relief, at least in the form of access to federal resources. But scarce rainfall, record heat, stressed soils, and depleted rivers don’t resolve quickly.
Puerto Rico now enters the later months of what should have been its wet season with reservoirs, rivers, and farmland still recovering. The question going forward is whether meaningful rainfall will return before the dry season reasserts itself, or whether the island will carry this deficit deeper into the year. Drought monitors, satellite sensors, and the scientists interpreting them will be watching closely — and so will the communities that depend on the rain.
More information is available here: NASA Earth Observatory. “Extreme drought now covers 44% of Puerto Rico.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 4 September 2026. <www.sciencedaily.com
Daniel García is an Editor-in-Chief with strong expertise in structural work and engineering principles. He combines this technical foundation with deep knowledge of energy, spatial design, and emerging technologies, bringing a forward-thinking and analytical approach to editorial leadership.
