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Drought is one of the costliest and deadliest climate-related disasters in the United States, necessitating public health engagement at a national level. Although drought is not typically thought of as a health hazard, the pathways to human health outcomes are prevalent and numerous. To better understand these pathways and the actions that could be taken to reduce health impacts associated with drought, NOAA’s National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS) has supported the first comprehensive assessment of drought and health.

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The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (CSKT) Bison Range just gained a brand new mesonet station to record and deliver hydrological and meteorological data. The station went live on May 4, 2023 with a goal to improve the monitoring of weather, soil, and snowpack across the Flathead Reservation, as well as contributing to the larger Montana Mesonet network. 

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The Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences recently awarded bronze medals for superior performance to eight team members from NOAA’s National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS). These medals reaffirm the successful launch of the redesigned Drought.gov website as "a cutting-edge implementation of the NIDIS public law, built on interagency and Department of Commerce partnerships." 

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A new computer modeling technique developed by scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) offers the potential to generate months-ahead summertime drought forecasts across the Western United States with the capability of differentiating between dry conditions at locations just a couple of miles apart.

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NOAA’s National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS) is pleased to announce the launch of new and improved state pages on the U.S. Drought Portal.The expanded Drought.gov state pages—which NIDIS developed in collaboration with NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information—provide a one-stop shop for state drought information, including interactive and easily shareable maps, statistics, and resources.

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A recent international review article, "Using soil moisture information to better understand and predict wildfire danger: A review of recent developments and outstanding questions," summarizes the growing body of evidence indicating that greater use of soil moisture information in fire danger rating systems could lead to earlier warning of wildfire danger, and better forecasts of wildfire occurrence and size. 

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In recent years, wildfires have become more frequent, larger, and burn at higher severity across the western United States and especially in California. A recently published NIDIS-funded study led by scientists with the Desert Research Institute was motivated by an extended dry spell in the winter of 2021-2022 following multiple severe high elevation fires in California.

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The National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS) is excited to co-chair several town halls and oral/poster sessions at the 103rd meeting of the American Meteorological Society (AMS) in January 2023. These sessions will cover topics such as megadroughts in the western U.S., soil moisture data, drought analysis and prediction, service delivery lessons, and translating climate science into action. 

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These ten maps provide an overview of water storage in the West and a winter snow drought outlook for Water Year 2023. The maps  show how previous La Niña winters have impacted precipitation and temperature across the U.S., the latest National Weather Service outlooks that are influenced by these past La Niña events, and water supply issues in the West, and snow drought conditions.

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According to recent research led by Benjamin Cook (NASA Goddard) and a team of international scientists, climate change is likely to increase future megadrought risk through regional declines in precipitation and widespread increases in evaporative demand. The impacts of an ongoing megadrought in Southwestern North America (2000–present), amplified by climate change, suggest that these events will significantly strain water resources and present major resiliency challenges in the future.