Since the graph for May, the drought at Manilla has become more severe at all durations, from two months up to 240 months.

[For explanation of this graph, see below: “About drought duration graphs”.]

Shortages Jan 2000 to Oct 2019

Seasonal rain shortages recorded to October 2019 are extreme (1st percentile) in the winters of both 2018 and 2019.
For durations of 9 months up to 96 months, extreme shortages now occur at all of the durations shown . This is much worse than in May. At that time, shortages had not been “extreme” (red), but merely “severe” (grey) at the durations of 36-, 42-, 48-, 60-, and 96-months.
By May, “severe” shortages had already appeared at the very long durations of 120-, 150-, and 240-months. Now, there are also severe shortages at 108-months and 180-months.
The shortage at 240-months has now also become extreme (red). Very low rainfalls since May have dragged down the 240-month total to make it the sixth driest on record at Manilla. This links the short extreme drought of 2002  to become a part of the current drought. That would have seemed unlikely during later deluges, as in summer 2011-12.

Compete record updated to October

When the graph of the complete record of months of rainfall shortage at Manilla is updated to October 2019 it is clear that the current drought is one of the greatest droughts in history.
Now that an extreme rainfall shortage has appeared at 240-month (20-year) duration, along with a complete suite of extreme shortages from 2-months to 96-months, only the droughts of 1912 and 1946 are comparable. The Federation drought of 1902 may also have had a 20-year extreme shortage, but data for that duration are incomplete.

About drought duration graphs

These graphs show the onset, persistence, and breaking of episodes of extreme and severe rainfall shortage (droughts) at Manilla. The first shows detail since 2000. The second shows the complete historical record from 1884. The graph features and the data analysis are explained in the post “Rainfall Shortage History: Manilla”.

Extreme shortages, up to the 1st percentile, are shown in red and severe shortages, up to the 5th percentile, are shown in grey.
The dashed line labelled “Last Good Data” is a limitation of observed cumulative rainfall deficiency. Future observations may make any point to the right of this line more extreme.