Flash Drought Prediction & Monitoring Tools
NIDIS has developed a handout listing currently available flash drought-oriented tools, organized by type of tool and primary indicator. A handout that provides the advantages and disadvantages of each indicator was also developed.
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The rapid onset or intensification of drought conditions, also called flash drought, has been a major concern across the U.S. this summer. Flash drought has hit portions of the Midwest, South, Plains (particularly the Southern Plains), and Northeast. Parts of Oklahoma went from no drought to Extreme Drought (D3) in a matter of weeks. To help climate professionals and the public better understand this phenomenon, NIDIS has developed a handout listing currently available flash drought-oriented tools, organized by type of tool (monitoring or prediction) and by primary indicator (focused on evapotranspiration, precipitation, soil moisture, and integrated products). There is also a companion handout developed by Dr. Trent Ford at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign that provides a quick snapshot of the general advantages and disadvantages of each primary indicator.
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NIDIS Seeking Proposals to Address Western Water Crisis
Since 2011, NIDIS has partnered with NOAA's Modeling, Analysis, Predictions, and Projections (MAPP) program to support drought-focused competitive funding opportunities. The FY 2023 MAPP competition will focus on the critical state of the western hydroclimate and advancing our understanding and capabilities to address the challenges posed by variability and change in that hydroclimate. There is a need for research that can help discriminate between long-term aridity vs. serial drought events vs. isolated drought events and improve understanding of how the propensity for and drivers of drought in the West are changing. There is also a need to apply models to understand and anticipate critical thresholds for water availability in the West. Learn more >
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August Climate and Health Outlook
The Climate and Health Outlook is an effort to inform health professionals and the public on how our health may be affected in the coming month(s) by climate events and provide resources to take proactive action. The August edition explores the climate-related health hazards of wildfire, drought, extreme heat, and hurricanes. These monthly outlooks are produced by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Climate Change and Health Equity (OCCHE), with input from NIDIS and other partners, including the National Integrated Heat Health Information System (NIHHIS). Learn more >
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Plant "Sweating" and Wildfire Severity
Even in drought-stricken California, not all areas face the same degree of wildfire risk. A recent study featuring data from NASA’s ECOSTRESS mission found relationships between the intensity of a wildfire and the water stress in plants measured in the months before the blaze. The research, led by scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, draws on plant water-use data collected by ECOSTRESS, short for the ECOsystem and Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on Space Station. The instrument measures the temperature of plants as they heat up and run out of water. Learn more >
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FEATURED MAPS + DATA
Look Back at July: Extremely Dry in Texas and Extremely Hot Almost Everywhere
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July 2022 will go down in the history books as the third-hottest July on record for the U.S., according to scientists from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information. The average temperature across the contiguous U.S. was 76.4 degrees F (2.8 degrees above average). Only July 1936 (first) and July 2012 (second) were hotter. Texas felt the brunt of the heat, reporting its hottest July on record. Near-record warmth also covered locations from the Pacific Northwest to the south-central U.S., and across parts of the Northeast. The average July precipitation was 2.74 inches (0.04 of an inch below average), ranking in the middle third of the historical record. Kentucky saw its fourth-wettest July due to record rainfall during the last week of the month. Elsewhere, Rhode Island saw its second-driest July while Texas had its fifth driest. Learn more >
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NIDIS Drought Alert Emails: Get Local Drought Conditions and Outlooks in Your Inbox |
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Sign up to get automated email alerts when U.S. Drought Monitor conditions change for your location, or when NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center releases a new drought outlook, predicting whether drought will develop, persist, or improve. Sign up here >
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UPCOMING
Events & Webinars
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About NIDIS
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS) was authorized by Congress in 2006 (Public Law 109-430) with an interagency mandate to develop and provide a national drought early warning information system, by coordinating and integrating drought research, and building upon existing federal, tribal, state, and local partnerships.
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