In the Rocky Mountain West, monitoring the evolution of the snowpack over the course of the winter and spring is critical to forecasting streamflow and managing water supply as well as fisheries management and guided rafting.

Quarterly Climate Impacts and Outlook for the Western Region for September – November 2020.  Dated December 2020.

Temperatures were above-average during the fall west of the Rocky Mountains, favored by a strong high pressure ridge anchored along the coast. Although fall is typically dry in the southern half of the West, the persistent ridge prevented landfalling Pacific storms, leading to well-below normal precipitation in many regions.

Provides information on the typical La Niña winter pattern; the La Niña outlook; potential impacts; and comparisons of conditions during previous La Niña years.

NOAA’s Regional Climate Services Program created these outlooks to inform the public about climate impacts within their respective regions. Each regional report contains easy-to-understand language, and anyone can access them through the Drought Portal.

The Missouri River Basin (MRB) Drought Early Warning System (DEWS) Strategic Action Plan outlines priority tasks and activities to build drought early warning capacity and resilience. In early 2017, meetings were held to update the existing strategic plan, including a new focus on enhancing tribal capacity to use drought information and the use of new tools and drought indicators across the region. Before that plan could be finalized, drought quickly engulfed the Northern Plains region.

In order to ensure the inclusion of indigenous perspectives in the implementation of our DEWS, NIDIS launched a Tribal Drought Engagement initiative in January 2019 in collaboration with the Masters of the Environment Program at University of Colorado-Boulder. The project aimed to strengthen relationships with tribal resource managers across the Missouri River Basin and Midwest DEWS regions in order to effectively deliver timely and relevant drought information.