NOAA Drought Seminar Series: El Niño and Drought in the U.S. Southern Region

John Nielsen-Gammon, regents professor at Texas A&M and Texas State Climatologist, will present "El Niño and Drought in the U.S. Southern Region."

Drought in the Southern United States can be brief and intense or long and devastating. Vulnerability arises from the marginally adequate precipitation under normal conditions and the large swings in precipitation on an interannual basis. The influence of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is a primary factor contributing to large precipitation variability, with average precipitation during the cool season differing by a factor of two between El Niño and La Niña. Departures from normal precipitation are most predictable during the cool season, a time of recharge and replenishment before summer evaporation takes over.

With drought having recently reached near-record extent across the southern United States, the current El Niño provides well-grounded hope for drought relief. However, the worst multi-year drought on record for Texas was in the 1950s, when La Niñas were common and the only El Niño failed to deliver.

About the Seminar Series

This event is part of the NOAA Drought Seminar Series, a collaborative effort between NOAA Research's Physical Sciences Laboratory (PSL), the National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS), and the National Weather Service's Weather Prediction Center. The series aims to enhance NOAA's capability to monitor, predict, and understand drought behavior. Drought is a key part of NOAA Research's science priorities aimed at confronting the challenges of a changing planet. It is also a key focus of National Weather Service operational forecast products and services, supporting stakeholder decision-making and reducing drought-related costs and impacts.

Each session will feature a speaker presentation, a question and answer period with the presenter, and general updates on activities within the drought science and services community. Individual session information, including connection details, is available on the NOAA Drought Seminar Series page. These seminars will be recorded.

PSL and NIDIS are part of NOAA's Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research.

For additional information, please contact Andy Hoell with NOAA Research's Physical Sciences Laboratory.