A few months ago, blogging about drought in Ethiopia, I mentioned my definition of drought: “less precipitation than you’ve come to depend on.”

This evening I realized where I’d gotten the idea.

In the August 2002 issue of the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, Kelly Redmond wrote a commentary on “The Depiction of Drought.” In it, he wrote:

Most concepts of drought involve a water balance. This implies that both supply and demand must be considered, as well as the question of whether there is enough (and, enough for what?). Thus, through time I have come to favor a simple definition; that is, insufficient water to meet needs.

I’d not read the paper before. But I’ve talked with Kelly about this stuff at great length. So the idea must have come from him.