Abstract:Flash drought is a type of drought characterized by rapid intensification within a few weeks. It could be a “new normal” of drought in a warming climate, which needs further investigation. Regarding the debate on flash drought definition, this paper emphasizes the importance of understanding the difference and connection between flash drought and traditional drought, and clarifies flash drought in terms of rapid onset, duration, onset and recovery processes. This paper also overviews the progresses in extreme case diagnosis, detection and attribution, and ecological and environmental impact. Future focus could be the flash drought mechanism including internal variability and external forcings, the interaction between flash drought and ecosystem, identification of predictability sources, and the development of prediction methods. It is encouraged to use earth system science and to develop advanced monitoring and modeling techniques for adapting to the increasing flash drought risk from a global change perspective.