Browse news articles

NOAA’s National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS) has announced up to $4 million in funding for 8 two-year projects as part of the Fiscal Year 2025 NIDIS Coping with Drought: Understanding and Assessing Drought in a Changing Climate competition. This competition seeks projects focused on improving drought indicator performance to account for non-stationarity with the goal of more accurate drought assessments that support communities in preparing for, mitigating, and responding to drought. 

New interactive maps on drought.gov can help users better prepare for heat and drought in their community, with data from NOAA’s National Weather Service. Drought.gov now displays customizable maps showing National Weather Service heat advisories, warnings, and watches, as well as 3–7 and 8–14 day heat hazard outlooks. These maps can be overlaid with the U.S. Drought Monitor to monitor areas where extreme heat may worsen existing drought conditions. 

Research on ecological drought demonstrates that while many species are tolerant of water shortages, others may experience declines, with recovery taking years or even decades after drought ends. The new study, funded by the USGS National Climate Adaptation Science Center, discussed an even more extreme possibility—that some ecosystems will never recover from drought. 

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.