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The American Meteorological Society (AMS) is hosting its 107th annual meeting on January 10–14, 2027, in Denver, Colorado. This year, the meeting will focus on the theme, “PEOPLE: People Educated On Planet Live Empowered.” 

When drought develops, its effects extend well beyond a single number or a color on a map. Changes in precipitation, streamflow, groundwater and water supplies affect the plants, fish, wildlife, and people connected to the landscape. The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) created its Drought Early Warning System (DEWS) Dashboard to bring those relationships into one accessible and culturally relevant information source. 

When drought intensifies, decisions cannot wait. Yet the information guiding those decisions is often scattered across multiple websites, difficult to compare, and challenging to translate into action. To help close that gap, the Montana Climate Office has launched the Drought Data Dashboard (D3, pronounced “D three”), a free, open-source web platform that delivers daily drought information across the contiguous United States.

Soil moisture and snowpack data serve as a tool to support critical decisions: farmers rely on it to decide when to plant crops; forecasters and communities use it for flood warnings; and federal scientists use it to monitor and identify drought. A recent NIDIS-funded study within the UMRB project found strong interest in using soil moisture and snowpack data across sectors and opportunities to further expand and maximize such use by refining communications and providing data in more accessible formats.

A new interactive web-based tool, TroutCast, launched on June 1, 2026 to help forecast drought impacts on trout populations and support fisheries and water management across Montana’s renowned blue-ribbon rivers.

From the unpredictability of flash droughts to dry conditions that threatened water supplies in major cities last year, the Mid-Atlantic faces complex challenges. To confront these growing risks, more than 50 federal, state, academic, and regional stakeholders convened to begin shaping the Mid-Atlantic Drought Early Warning System (DEWS).

Led by NOAA’s National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS), the Upper Missouri River Basin (UMRB) Data Value Study is a collaboration across the federal government, with Tribal Nations, states, and academic institutions. The UMRB Data Value Study advances understanding of soil moisture and plains snowpack to improve the Nation’s ability to predict and provide warning of flood and drought. 

A new study in Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies, funded in part by NOAA’s National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS), evaluated whether the Evaporative Stress Index (ESI) can help identify these rapid changes. Researchers found ESI shows its strongest alignment with soil moisture in the fall and can provide an early signal of developing flash drought conditions in the Southeast. Changes in ESI often emerge alongside rapid soil moisture declines, offering a useful, persistent early warning of drought when used alongside other indicators.

In 2026, NOAA’s National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS), established by Public Law (P.L. 109-430), marks a major milestone: 20 years of advancing drought early warning and enhancing long-term drought resilience across the United States. 

There is a growing possibility that an El Niño will be among the strongest influences on weather patterns across the U.S. later this year. What will this mean for drought in the Southern Plains?