An exceptional drought is reported in Washington for the first time in Drought Monitor history. Author: Thomas Patrick Updated: 11:26 PM PDT July 15, 2021 SPOKANE, Wash. — The latest Drought Monitor update for the U.S. worsened the drought in Washington in terms of both coverage and severity on Thursday. Now, that severity has reached a level that Washington has never seen before. There are four levels of drought severity, with exceptional being the most extreme and that is the type of drought that was reported near the Ritzville and Asotin areas. This covers about 7% of the state, but since detailed record keeping began in 2000, Washington had never seen an exceptional drought before.