Southwest Drought Briefing: February 23, 2022

Welcome to the Southwest Drought Update

Speaker: Emile Elias | USDA Southwest Climate Hub

• Welcome to the February 2022 Southwest Drought Briefing. These half-hour webinars will be held monthly for as long as this region is experiencing extreme and exceptional drought conditions.
• Acknowledgment of land.
• Learn more about the Southwest Drought Learning Network.
• View past webinar recordings at drought.gov/webinars.
• Introduction of the speakers:
  • Deb Bathke, National Drought Mitigation Center, University of Nebraska
  • Kelly Smith, National Drought Mitigation Center, University of Nebraska

Drought & Climate Update

Speaker: Deb Bathke | National Drought Mitigation Center, University of Nebraska

• Drought conditions in the Southwest U.S. have improved, but extreme (D3) and exceptional (D4) drought conditions remain.
• After a snowy December, a persistent blocking high pressure system has created abnormally dry conditions for the Southwest during January and February.
• Over the last three months, eastern New Mexico has seen the most degradation in drought conditions.
• Drought outlooks show drought is expected to persist across the Southwest.

Condition Monitoring Observer Reports (CMOR)

Speaker: Kelly Smith | National Drought Mitigation Center, University of Nebraska

• The Condition Monitoring Observer Reports (CMOR) tool allows anyone to log drought impacts.
• This data is used to help contextualize drought data, including by providing:
  • Information on forage conditions
  • Impacts to specific industries
  • Photographs that provide a visual record of landscape changes.
• Submit a drought report here: https://go.unl.edu/CMOR

Questions & Answers

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