Quarterly Climate Impacts and Outlook for the Gulf of Maine Region for March–May 2024. Dated June 2024.
Spring was up to 4°C (7°F) warmer than normal, ranking as the warmest on record for Summerside, P.E.I., and among the 10 warmest for many parts of the region. Spring precipitation ranged from 50% of normal to 175% of normal. Concord, NH, had its seventh-wettest spring.
Quarterly Climate Impacts and Outlook for the Northeast Region for March–May 2024. Dated June 2024.
The Northeast had its fourth-warmest spring at 3.7°F above normal. It was among the seven warmest springs for all 12 Northeast states. The Northeast had its 11th-wettest spring with 120% of normal precipitation. It was among the 20 wettest springs for eight of the 12 Northeast states.
Quarterly Climate Impacts and Outlook for Alaska and Northwestern Canada for March–May 2024, with an outlook for July–September 2024. Dated June 2024.
Environment and Climate Change Canada, NOAA, and partners created these climate outlooks to inform the public about recent climate impacts within their respective regions. Each regional report contains easy-to-understand language, and anyone can access them through the U.S. Drought Portal.
Quarterly Climate Impacts and Outlook for the Canadian and U.S. Prairies and High Plains for March–May 2024, with an outlook for July–September 2024. Dated June 2024.
Accurate drought assessments are critical for mitigating the detrimental impacts of water scarcity on communities across the world. In many regions, deficits in soil moisture represent a key driver of drought conditions. However, relationships between soil moisture and widely used drought indicators have not been thoroughly evaluated.
Quarterly Climate Impacts and Outlook for the Pacific Region for March–May 2024. Dated June 2024.
The Workshop for Building Drought Resilience in a Changing Climate with Upper Columbia and Missouri Basin Tribes was convened in September 2023 with an overarching goal of strengthening relationships between Tribal Nations, Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs), and their partners across the region.
This NIDIS-funded study, led by researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder/Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES), found that future hydrologic droughts are projected to become more severe and prolonged through the 21st century. This includes more frequent multi-year droughts. These storylines play out differently under different emissions scenarios, but seasonal shifts in drought timing were prominent in northern latitudes across all future scenarios.
Should drought be considered an extreme dry period based on the entire record of available data? Or, should drought be considered a low in precipitation variability within the context of a present, contemporary climate? The two most common reference periods are the full period of record (all observed data or as much as possible) and a 30-year reference climatology. However, climate non-stationarity may render the "all data" approach an inaccurate or obsolete comparison unless a trend is factored in.
From worsening water quality to respiratory and metal health impacts, drought can have profound and widespread impacts on the health of communities across the nation. To better prepare health professionals’ response to the health effects of drought, a research team from the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s College of Public Health recently released a new guide to assist healthcare providers and public health officials communicate about the health risks of drought with their patients and broader communities.