The U.S. government is closed. This site will not be updated; however, NOAA websites and social media channels necessary to protect lives and property will be maintained. To learn more, visit commerce.gov.

For the latest forecasts and critical weather information, visit weather.gov.

Aug 9

News & Events

Southwest Drought Briefing: August 9, 2022

August 9, 2022

12:00 pm - 12:35 pm

MDT

The Southwest is in a continuing drought. This webinar looked at how recent monsoon rain has changed drought conditions for Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, and Utah. This webinar also took a closer look at drought monitoring using data and tools from the USDA Agricultural Research Service research in partnership with PhenoCam Network.

For more information, please contact Joel Lisonbee (joel.lisonbee@noaa.gov) or Emile Elias (emile.elias@usda.gov).

0:00

Welcome to the Southwest Drought Update

Speaker: Emile Elias | USDA Southwest Climate Hub

Welcome to the August 2022 Southwest Drought Briefing.
Learn more about the Southwest Drought Learning Network.
Acknowledgment of land.
View past webinar recordings at drought.gov/webinars.
Introduction of the speakers:
- Curtis Riganti, Climatologist, National Drought Mitigation Center
- Dawn Browning, Research Ecologist, USDA–Agricultural Research Service, Jornada Experimental Range

4:02

Current Conditions and Drought Outlook

Speaker: Curtis Riganti | Climatologist, National Drought Mitigation Center, Lincoln, Nebraska

Drought continues across the Southwest.
Lake Mead is at its lowest elevation on record.
The Southwest U.S. monsoon has been active and provided some improvement to short-term drought conditions. Long-term drought conditions persist.
- The western U.S. was in poor condition following the below-average snowpack from last year.
- Some locations in the West have received over 5 inches of rain so far this monsoon season.
- The second wettest day on record for Death Valley was August 5, 2022.
Seasonal drought outlooks show drought in the Southwest is likely to remain but improve.
Seasonal (August–October) precipitation outlooks show equal chances of above- or below-normal precipitation for Arizona, western New Mexico, and southern Utah/Nevada. Odds favor below-normal precipitation for northern Utah/Colorado.

21:45

Examining PhenoCams as a Tool for Monitoring Drought

Speaker: Dawn Browning | Research Ecologist, USDA–Agricultural Research Service, Jornada Experimental Range, Las Cruces, New Mexico

Phenology is the study of seasonal cycles in biological phenomena.
A PhenoCam is a digital camera that is posted on a tower and pointed at a fixed point to observe seasonal changes.
Time series of Green Chromatic Coordinate (GCC) from PhenoCam images have been used to measure changes in landscape greenness and other applications.
GCC may be a good indicator of recovery from drought.
Learn more about the PhenoCam Network.

35:20

Questions & Answers

Speaker: Joel Lisonbee | NOAA/National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS), Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES)