Drought.gov | Advancing Drought Science and Preparedness across the Nation

Advancing Drought Science and Preparedness across the Nation

How is Drought Affecting your Neighborhood?

Where is drought this week?

September 9-15, 2020

32.8%

of the US land area.

65.0 million

people are experiencing drought.

Extreme (D3) and Exceptional (D4) drought is present in Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, Oregon, Nevada, California, Hawaii, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Maine.
Severe (D2) drought is present in Hawaii, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Colorado, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri, Iowa, South Dakota, North Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine.

Featured Resources:

- Coastal Salinity Index (CSI) - A New Tool for Coastal Managers

Drought Status Updates Two-page status updates on drought conditions, including current conditions, impacts, and outlook:
- California-Nevada Drought Outlook - December 2019
- California-Nevada Drought Outlook - October 2019
- California-Nevada Drought & Climate Outlook Webinar - May 28, 2019
- California-Nevada Drought Outlook - March 2019

News & Updates

A sampling of maps showing the current state of drought in the United States

2020 Drought Update: A Look at Drought Across the United States in 15 Maps

This series of maps shows the current state of drought in the United States. Included are the factors that have led to the drought, primarily below average precipitation coupled with...

People white water rafting on the Clear Creek River in Colorado. Photo credit: Phillip Rubino

New Report on Drought and Outdoor Recreation

Outdoor recreation is a major contributor to the Intermountain West’s economy, but the future viability of many businesses—particularly small businesses—in the industry is threatened by their drought vulnerabilities and the...

NIDIS Highlights 2019 Achievements in First Ever Annual Report

We are excited to release our first Annual Report of the National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS) to provide insight into the many accomplishments of the program over the previous...

Featured Drought Data, Maps & Tools

Drought Impacts Report

The National Drought Mitigation Center developed this database of drought impacts, which can be searched by location, type of impact, time period and more.

Wildfire Risks

The National Interagency Coordination Center in Boise, Idaho, produces these maps monthly.

Evaporative Demand Drought Index (EDDI)

The Evaporative Demand Drought Index (EDDI) is an experimental tool that can serve as an indicator of both rapidly evolving "flash" droughts (developing over a few weeks) and sustained droughts (developing over months but lasting up to years).

How is Drought Affecting your Neighborhood?

Current Conditions for /city/, /state/ (/county/)

RTNWSGrandRapids: An experimental computer model's depiction, every 6 hours, of how wildfire smoke in the atmosphere has been carried around by weather systems between September 1 and 20. This is the estimated total amount of smoke in a vertical colu

DroughtGov: Northeast Drought Early Warning Update Extreme #drought (D3) returned to the region this week for the first time since 2017. Records for low streamflow and groundwater depletion rival the droughts of 2016/17 and the early 2000s. See: https:

DroughtGov: The latest precip forecast from @NOAA's @NWSWPC sees potentially inches of rain streaming into parts of the Pacific Northwest over the next 7 days. Looks relatively dry for #drought areas in the rest of the USA, with the exception of ea

RTNWSDesMoines: The latest drought monitor shows modest improvement over western IA with the removal of "D3 Extreme Drought", however widespread drought conditions continue to impact the state. No substantial rain is forecast through at least th

RTNWSCaribou: A picture of the very low water levels on the Saint John River around Frenchville, Maine. #mewx #drought https://t.co/iM8200Od7s

RTdennistodey: Good news/bad news for harvest/soils in #cornbelt. Largely dry and warmer than average conditions most likely into early October. Will allow #harvest20 for ready fields-few weather situations to slow progress. Not good news for #drought a

RTNWSSPC: 2:59pm CDT #SPC Day2 #FireWX Critical: portions of southern and central nevada, northwest nevada https://t.co/OIf8uk7xip https://t.co/cIAAGSx2xp

RTNWSABRFC: Most areas stayed in the same drought category or improved by one, except SW MO where conditions worsened by 1 category. 51% of the basin has no widespread drought, compared to 64% at the same time last year. Data from the US Drought Monitor -

RTNWSPhoenix: Confidence is increasing that this winter will be drier than normal in part due to the influence of La Niña, as the Dec-Feb outlook from @NWSCPC shows. #azwx #cawx https://t.co/Pv2D5R70o8

RTAlaskaWx: This week's analysis from @DroughtGov shows a reduction in D0 "abnormally dry" in northwest Alaska thanks to soaking rains on the Seward Peninsula. Kotzebue &amp; Kodiak have received some rain but not enough to pull out of

RTNHC_Atlantic: In addition to several active #Atlantic tropical cyclones, there are two areas with a high formation chance during the next 5 days. We are monitoring a broad low over the SW Gulf of Mexico, and another low S of the Cabo Verde Islands. http

DroughtGov: #DroughtMonitor 9/15: Spotlight on the Northeast Extreme Drought (D3) was added to parts of ME, MA, RI, and CT. This is the first D3 in the Northeast since early 2017. 54.7% of the region is in #drought. The 8-14 Outlook: Dry See https://t

RTMidwestClimate: A week of wet weather across Iowa aided in eliminating extreme drought from the state while decreasing drought coverage by more than 20 percent across the state in this week's #Drought Monitor. https://t.co/eqZg68p9VX

DroughtGov: #DroughtMonitor 9/15: @NOAA's @NWSCPC forecast for next week sees a ray of hope for #drought and wildfire in the Northwest. Also the Four Corners. Otherwise, the USA is expected to be abnormally dry or normally dry (CA). Temps? warm Wes

DroughtGov: #DroughtMonitor 9/15: So many factors in @NOAA's @NWSCPC new Seasonal #Drought Outlook La Nina, active tropics, typical fall climate Improvements: Northwest, Northeast, AK, HI Drought persistence/development: rest of the West, Plains,

News & Updates

2020 Drought Update: A Look at Drought Across the United States in 15 Maps

New Report on Drought and Outdoor Recreation

NIDIS Highlights 2019 Achievements in First Ever Annual Report

Featured Drought Data, Maps & Tools

Drought Impacts Report

The National Drought Mitigation Center developed this database of drought impacts, which can be searched by location, type of impact, time period and more.

Drought Impacts Report

Wildfire Risks

The National Interagency Coordination Center in Boise, Idaho, produces these maps monthly.

Wildfire Risks

Evaporative Demand Drought Index (EDDI)

The Evaporative Demand Drought Index (EDDI) is an experimental tool that can serve as an indicator of both rapidly evolving "flash" droughts (developing over a few weeks) and sustained droughts (developing over months but lasting up to years).

Evaporative Demand Drought Index (EDDI)

How is Drought Affecting your Neighborhood?

Current Conditions for /city/, /state/ (/county/)

News & Updates

Featured Drought Data, Maps & Tools

Drought Impacts Report The National Drought Mitigation Center developed this database of drought impacts, which can be searched by location, type of impact, time period and more.

Wildfire Risks The National Interagency Coordination Center in Boise, Idaho, produces these maps monthly.

Evaporative Demand Drought Index (EDDI) The Evaporative Demand Drought Index (EDDI) is an experimental tool that can serve as an indicator of both rapidly evolving "flash" droughts (developing over a few weeks) and sustained droughts (developing over months but lasting up to years).

Drought Impacts Report

The National Drought Mitigation Center developed this database of drought impacts, which can be searched by location, type of impact, time period and more.

Wildfire Risks

The National Interagency Coordination Center in Boise, Idaho, produces these maps monthly.

Evaporative Demand Drought Index (EDDI)

The Evaporative Demand Drought Index (EDDI) is an experimental tool that can serve as an indicator of both rapidly evolving "flash" droughts (developing over a few weeks) and sustained droughts (developing over months but lasting up to years).