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The National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS) is excited to co-organize two sessions as part of the American Meteorological Society's 105th annual meeting.

Before summer took hold, Washington issued a nearly-statewide drought declaration, allowing funding to become available for drought relief.

A Lousiana State University-led paper, with funding from NOAA's National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS), the National Science Foundation, and the U.S. Geological Survey, used a metric known as the Evaporative Demand Drought Index, or EDDI, to quantify drought conditions and examine their relationship to Mississippi River flow. Using evaporative demand as a lens to view conditions in Louisiana and through the upper Mississippi River basin brought a surprising finding into focus—that low water levels in the Mississippi correlated more closely to EDDI than to precipitation.

On June 24, NOAA Climate Program Office’s National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS) and Modeling, Analysis, Predictions and Projections (MAPP) program jointly announced $4.9 million in funding for NOAA labs and research partners to improve drought monitoring and prediction in the American West. 

Flash droughts—the rapid onset or intensification of drought—can have widespread impacts on communities, ecosystems, and the economy. However, they also have unique challenges for monitoring and prediction. NOAA’s National Weather Service (NWS) Climate Prediction Center (CPC) created the the Rapid Onset Drought (ROD) hazard outlook to better predict areas at risk for flash drought development. 

In a new NIDIS-funded study by Dartmouth College, published in AGU Advances, scientists examined whether the USDM is keeping up with changes in climate, as expressed in precipitation and soil moisture patterns. 

From worsening water quality to respiratory and mental health impacts, drought can have profound and widespread impacts on the health of communities across the nation. To better prepare health professionals for responding 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, Drought and Health: A Messaging Framework for Public Health Professionals and Healthcare Providers. This guide aims to help healthcare providers and public health officials communicate about the health risks of drought with their patients and broader communities.

Ranchers face a persistent hurdle to making proactive management decisions due to a lack of timely and accurate drought-related information. The Hawai'i Rangeland Information Portal (H-RIP) was developed to help ranchers fill critical information needs. 

Last fall, NWS experimentally launched a modernized Drought Information Statement. After incorporating feedback during the testing period, NWS officially launched the new statements on April 1. NOAA’s National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS) and National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) collaborated with NWS to support this important update, including creating customized regional graphics and an interactive map of all Drought Information Statements.

To better understand the potential impacts of distinct drought patterns on human health, a new NIDIS-funded study in the Science of the Total Environment examined the effects of monthly severe drought exposure on all-cause (deaths from any cause) and cardiovascular-related deaths in the Northern Rockies and Plains of the U.S. (including Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Nebraska) from 2000–2018.