The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and NOAA’s National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS) hosted a series of listening sessions in 2022 to seek input on priorities and needs related to predicting water availability changes under drought conditions at national and regional scales.

In a changing climate, the intensity, duration, and frequency of droughts may change. This poses new challenges for drought assessment. Current methods for assessing drought conditions do not consistently and deliberately consider drought in the context of climate change, thereby unintentionally promoting drought response strategies that are limited in building long-term resilience in a changing climate. 

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 actions that could be taken to reduce health impacts associated with drought, NOAA’s National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS) supported the first comprehensive assessment of drought and health.

Under Congressional direction, NOAA’s National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS) is leading an interagency team on the Upper Missouri River Basin (UMRB) Soil Moisture and Snowpack Data Value Study.

The 2020–2021 drought of the greater U.S. Northern Plains and Canadian Prairies was a multi-billion-dollar event that had wide-reaching impacts on the region’s communities, ecosystems, water resources, and agricultural systems. Building off of the lessons learned from the flash drought of 2017—the last drought to affect the region—the 2020–2021 Drought in the U.S. Northern Plains and Canadian Prairies report advances understanding of drought response and preparedness actions by highlighting new efforts, along with outstanding gaps and needs.

Although southeast Alaska is one of the wettest areas in North America, it was plagued by a long-lived drought from October 2016 to December 2019. The drought intensified in late 2017 garnering significant attention in Alaska as water restrictions and reservoir levels were too low for hydropower generation to meet capacity. Over the following 18 months, the drought waxed and waned with additional impacts, especially during the hot summer of 2019.

Despite being a humid region, droughts pose a serious threat to the southeastern United States. Recent events, including flash droughts, have caused substantial impacts to agriculture, forestry, water resources, and other sectors and stakeholders. The drought planning literature cites reduced fragmentation and increased coordination as critical needs to improving drought preparedness and response.

The 2022–2026 National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS) Strategic Plan outlines and advances NIDIS’s approach to building a national drought early warning system (DEWS). 

NOAA’s National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS) has worked with Tribal Nations on drought issues since its inception. In order to ensure the inclusion of indigenous perspectives in the implementation of regional Drought Early Warning Systems (DEWS), NIDIS launched a Tribal Drought Engagement initiative in 2019 in collaboration with the Masters of the Environment Program at the University of Colorado Boulder.

The purpose of the 2022–2025 Southeast Drought Early Warning System (DEWS) Strategic Action Plan is to clearly articulate jointly identified information needs, set priorities for the DEWS network, and suggest measurable actions to improve drought early warning and preparedness for the region.