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Drought Early Warning Activities

Page Summary

Each regional drought early warning system (DEWS) focuses on improving early warning capacity for and resilience to drought in that region, including examining the role of extreme weather events and climate variability in drought.

Regional DEWS Coordination

NIDIS has developed regional drought early warning systems (DEWS) throughout the United States, where local networks of researchers, resource managers, policymakers, the private sector, academics, and other stakeholders share information and actions to help their communities cope with drought.

A DEWS coordinates this network of key regional partners so that decision makers and citizens can systematically approach drought monitoring and forecasting integration when planning and preparing for drought. Regional DEWS encourage innovation by integrating new, locally relevant drought information, and supporting the introduction and testing of technologies that detect and communicate drought risks and warnings.

Regional DEWS activities focus on five key areas for drought early warning (DEWS components): observation and monitoring, prediction and forecasting, planning and preparedness, communication and outreach, and interdisciplinary research and applications.

Circles representing each of the 5 key components of a drought early warning system

Drought Early Warning Activities

The table below shows ongoing activities related to drought early warning across the United States. Each activity falls into one or more of the five key areas of drought early warning systems (DEWS components): observation and monitoring, planning and preparedness, prediction and forecasting, communication and outreach, and interdisciplinary research and applications.

DEWS Components Legend
Observation & Monitoring
 
Planning & Preparedness
 
Prediction & Forecasting
 
Communication & Outreach
 
Research & Applications

Select filters to browse DEWS Activities below

Description

The ACF River Basin Drought and Water Dashboard is an interactive, web-based application that allows users to monitor drought…

Scope
Region
Key Partners
NOAA, Albany State University, Auburn University, NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
Project Timeline
Oct
2019
Jan
2022
DEWS Components
Description

Assessments following the 2016 drought in New York and New England broadly identified data gaps related to soil moisture, streamflow, and groundwater levels. To address these shortcomings, this…

Scope
Region
Key Partners
Cornell University, State University of New York at Albany, State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, NIDIS
Project Timeline
Sep
2019
Aug
2021
DEWS Components
Description

The Indiana State Climate Office is in the process of developing an enhanced flash drought risk tool that can be utilized by government agencies, communicators, and the public to monitor…

Scope
Region
Key Partners
Purdue University
Project Timeline
Oct
2019
Aug
2022
DEWS Components
Description

As part of the U.S. Geological Survey Fisheries program, ecological flows (or the relationships between quality, quantity, and timing of water flows and ecological response of aquatic biota and…

Scope
National
Key Partners
U.S. Geological Survey
Project Timeline
Oct
2020
DEWS Components
Description

This project will develop a web-based tool to expand on the initial work done by Danielle Moruzzi: a CIRC graduate student who took a different approach to drought recovery by…

Scope
Region
Key Partners
University of California, Merced
Project Timeline
Oct
2020
Sep
2022
DEWS Components