Coastal Carolinas Drought Early Warning System Strategic Plan

The Coastal Carolinas DEWS Strategic Plan outlines priority tasks and activities that build upon existing stakeholder networks to improve drought early warning capacity and long-term resilience in the coastal areas of North and South Carolina. This is a “living document” to which additional actions and partners may be added as needs and opportunities arise. The Plan includes a list of current partners, outcomes, and key milestones for present activities as well as indicating areas where NIDIS is seeking additional partners or working to finalize details of some activities.

Dedicated partners across the Coastal Carolinas region contributed to the development of the Plan, including federal, state, academic and local entities, and in particular the Carolinas Integrated Sciences and Assessments (CISA)(link is external), a NOAA Regional Integrated Science Assessment (RISA) team. A workshop was held in Wilmington, NC, in June 2016 to receive input on priority needs and actions to be addressed through this Plan. Participants included 29 federal, state and academic partners in addition to other key stakeholders with a diverse range interests and expertise. Their interests included drought monitoring, salinity dynamics and monitoring, fire-weather monitoring and response, coastal resources management, agricultural and conservation land management, and public health. Information obtained from this 2016 Plan Development workshop, as well as a 2012 Coastal Carolinas DEWS Scoping Workshop to initiate the DEWS, and lessons learned to date through implementing the Coastal Carolinas DEWS, have all informed this Plan.