The share of Puerto Rico under drought fell for another consecutive week, from 43.5% to 42.9% of the territory, according to the Drought Monitor report released Thursday with data valid as of October 27, 2026. The 0.6 percentage point drop is a slight improvement, though extreme drought conditions were unchanged. Moderate drought declined from 20.5% to 20%, and severe drought from 15.8% to 15.7%.
For the third straight week, extreme drought held at 7.2% of the territory, mainly in parts of the south and southwest coast. Areas classified as abnormally dry rose slightly, from 9.7% to 9.8%; that category covers dryness that does not reach moderate drought. The latest map shows extreme drought concentrated in a strip of the south and southwest coast, while severe drought affects other parts of the south and the interior.
Moderate drought persists mainly in the center, north and east of the island. Wide areas of the west and northwest, as well as parts of the east and southeast, are outside drought classifications. Vieques has moderate drought, while Culebra has areas of abnormal dryness.
No part of Puerto Rico is under exceptional drought, the most intense category. The improvement is larger measured against September 8, when 69.1% of the territory was in some drought category and 39.5% was in extreme drought. Since then, total drought extent has fallen 26.2 percentage points and the extreme category 32.3 points.
More than four in ten parts of the territory remain under some drought category. The Drought Monitor publishes its assessments every Thursday.