Northern Plains Drought Update & Outlook – Tribal Webinar: September 30, 2021

Welcome to the Northern Plains Drought Update and Outlook Tribal Webinar

Speaker: Stefan Tangen, North Central Climate Adaptation Science Center (CASC)

• The goal of this webinar series is to provide information about the current drought and its regional and local impacts, resources for addressing drought, and information about what various tribal nations are doing both in the short and long term regarding drought.
• Submit your drought impacts to the Condition Monitoring Observer Reports (CMOR).
• For Montana residents, visit the Montana Drought Impact Reporter.
• Learn more information on the Great Plains Tribal Water Alliance.

Current Conditions and Outlook

Speaker: Doug Kluck, NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information

• Fall and winter are recharge seasons for the Northern Plains, and currently it is very dry. Fall into winter is a relatively dry time of year in this region, and frozen soils prevent infiltration of water. 
• It is possible that La Niña could help conditions in this region, and outlooks generally call for wetter and warmer conditions through the end of the year. However, even if there is average snowpack or average precipitation, it is not likely to end the drought. It is possible that this could be a multi-year drought.
• Since soils are thirsty, it is likely that runoff will be lower in the spring. 
• To stay informed about the current conditions and outlooks, please register for the next monthly North Central U.S. webinar on October 21, which will cover the official NOAA Winter Outlook.

Tribal Lands Drought Monitoring

Speaker: Mark Junker, Sac and Fox Nation of Missouri in Kansas and Nebraska

• From the last National Climate Assessment, they knew that they would be experiencing more extremes in the future. They are planning for many different extremes, including flooding, wind, and drought.
• They track conditions using a spreadsheet that was developed by Mike Hayes at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. This helps them keep track of various weather/climate indicators. It has been very helpful for them to track conditions.

Staying Connected: Drought Resources

Speaker: Crystal Stiles, NOAA's National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS), Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES)

Here are various resources to stay informed about the drought conditions and climate/weather conditions overall:

• U.S. Drought Portal
• U.S. Drought Monitor
• Missouri River Basin Quarterly Climate Impacts and Outlook
• North Central U.S. Monthly Webinars
• North Central U.S. Monthly Webinars Archive
• NOAA Climate Prediction Center (CPC) Outlooks
• Northern Great Plains Climate Resilience Toolkit (just released)
• USDA Committees Announcement