Recognition of drought risks in a timely manner is dependent on our ability to monitor and forecast the diverse physical indicators of climatological drought, as well as relevant economic, social, and environmental impacts. The Western Governors’ Association Report (2004) “Creating a Drought Early Warning System for the 21st Century: The National Integrated Drought Information System” made clear that recent and ongoing droughts expose the critical need for a coordinated, integrated drought monitoring, forecasting, and early warning information system.
This report is a foundational document for the National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS) from the Western Governors' Association (WGA). From the executive summary:
This National Drought Mitigation Center paper outlines 10 key steps for effective drought planning.
Quarterly Climate Impacts and Outlook for the Midwest Region, June 2014.
NOAA’s National Water Model (NWM) predicts hydrologic information relevant to drought monitoring and forecasts at very high resolutions. Research is exploring how to use state-of-the-art NWM short-term forecasts of current hydrologic conditions as a proxy to monitor drought conditions. An experimental soil moisture drought monitoring capability is now being prototyped based on hourly, best available, quality-controlled NWM output.
Quarterly Climate Impacts and Outlook for the Northeast Region for September–November 2022. Dated December 2022.
The Northeast had its 17th-warmest autumn at 0.9°F above normal. Autumn was among the 20 warmest on record for 8 of the 12 Northeast states. The Northeast saw 101% of normal autumn precipitation, ranking in the wettest third of all years. Maine had its 20th-wettest autumn.
Dry Times Volume 2 Issue 2
Prior to becoming a bi-weekly email newsletter, “Dry Times,” the NIDIS newsletter, appeared twice a year in the spring and fall.
The Midwest region regularly experiences precipitation extremes, both flood and drought. However, these extremes and their corresponding impacts are typically studied and communicated independently, without consideration of the compound impacts due to a rapid transition from one extreme to the other (this study will refer to this type of event as a rapid transition in extremes, or RTE).