The Superior Express -

From late August through early October of last year, drought engulfed much of the Southeast United States in a way that many don't expect drought to behave - suddenly.

Drought throughout the Southeast spiked from covering about six percent of the region to 44 percent in less than a month. While many droughts embody the common description of the natural disaster as a creeping phenomenon, taking months or years to develop, the Southeast drought grew widespread and severe in a matter of weeks.

It was a classic flash drought, as defined in a new research paper which seeks to clarify what...