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NOAA Drought Seminar: National Weather Service Climate Prediction Center Operational Drought Services
Event Date
May 11, 2026
1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
ET
Location
Virtual

In this virtual seminar, Jon Gottschalck, National Weather Service Climate Prediction Center, will provide an overview of drought monitoring and prediction products, outlook verification, Impact-Based Decision Support Services (IDSS) activities, and ongoing developmental efforts.

NOAA Drought Seminar: Pathways of Ongoing Aridification in Southwest North America: Linkages Across Seasons in the Ocean-Atmosphere-Land System
Event Date
April 13, 2026
1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
ET
Location
Virtual

During this seminar, Richard Seager with Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University will present on the use of an atmosphere model forced by plausible sea surface temperature scenarios to examine the mechanisms of aridification that connect, across seasons, the ocean, atmosphere, and land surface.

Melting and patchy snow on hills and mountains in the Badlands. Photo credit: dschreiber29, Adobe Stock.
Drought in 2025 in 14 Graphics
Published on

From the catastrophic wildfires in Southern California to record-low streamflow in the Northeast, drought and its impacts touched nearly every corner of the country. The year saw the unusual return of two La Niña events and devastating weather whiplash that brought historic floods to drought-stricken Texas. 2025 showed us that drought is even more devastating when compounded with other climate hazards, such as wildfire and flood. This list breaks down some significant drought-related events of 2025 that made 2025 a year of water extremes across the United States. 

Research Dataset: Quantifying the Importance of Selected Drought Indicators for the U.S. Drought Monitor by Region and Season

A team of scientists at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center conducted research to quantify the relative importance—or “drought explainability”—of specific indicators with respect to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

Data Coverage
Contiguous U.S.
Period of Record
2006-2019
File Format
csv
netcdf-4
A barge on the Mississippi River, low water levels on the Mississippi, and bald eagles resting on a branch in the river. Photo credits: Justin Wilkens (first two photos) and Thomas O'Neil (third photo), Shutterstock.
NIDIS Launches Mississippi River Dashboard to Support Drought Resilience Across the Basin
Published on

Actionable, user-friendly, and reliable information is essential for risk-informed decision-making across the Mississippi River Basin. In response to impacts of drought in the region, NOAA’s National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS) built a Mississippi River Basin Drought and Water Dashboard. 

Forest fire near Interlaken, Twin Lakes, Colorado. Photo credit: David W Shaw, Adobe Stock.
Updated 9/5: Summer 2025 Drought and Wildfire in 10 Maps
Published on

This summer, hot and dry conditions are already driving large wildfires in the Western U.S. Check out the 10 maps below to better understand the conditions underlying current large fires and what’s forecast for fire and drought in the coming months.

Dry, cracked earth from long-term drought alongside a photo of flooding in the Texas Hill Country. Photo credit: Heidi (left image) and Brigitte Thompson (left image), Adobe Stock.
From Dust to Deluge: Weather Whiplash Devastates Texas
Published on

Weather whiplash is the abrupt and intense change from one extreme weather condition to another, such as dramatic temperature swings from hot to cold, heavy snowfall to rapid melt, and as is common in Texas, a period of prolonged drought followed by flooding. 

U.S. Gridded Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) from nClimGrid-Daily

The US Gridded Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) is derived from the nClimGrid-Daily dataset and and includes timescales of 1, 2, and 3 weeks, as well as 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 9, and 12 months.

Data Coverage
Contiguous U.S.
Period of Record
1951 – Present
File Format
text (ascii)
csv
netcdf-4
Data Type
Land-based Station
The sun shines brightly among clouds in a red sky, representing a heat wave. Photo credit: Shutterstock, Ed Connor.
Drought Brings the Heat: New Research Finds Drought Lengthens Heat Waves
Published on

Drought and heat often appear together, but new research funded by NOAA’s National Integrated Drought Information System found that drought can lengthen heat waves occurring at the same time.

A speaker gives a talk at a conference to a crowd of people.
NIDIS to Lead AMS Sessions on Drought Prediction, Drought Risk Communication
Published on

Next week, the American Meteorological Society (AMS) is hosting its 105th annual meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana.This year, the meeting will focus on the theme, "Towards a Thriving Planet: Charting the Course Across Scales." NOAA’s National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS) is excited to co-chair two sessions during this year’s meeting: Advancements in Analysis and Prediction of Drought and Advances in Communicating the Risk of Drought and Cascading Hazards. 

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