Southwest Drought Briefing: November 15, 2022

Welcome to the Southwest Drought Briefing

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

• Welcome to the November 2022 Southwest Drought Briefing. 
• View past webinar recordings at drought.gov/webinars.
• Introducing the speakers:
  • Dave DuBois, New Mexico State Climatologist, New Mexico State University
  • Tsegaye Tedessa | National Drought Mitigation Center, University of Nebraska–Lincoln

Current Conditions and Drought Outlook

Speaker: Dave DuBois | New Mexico State Climatologist, New Mexico State University

• The summer monsoon widely improved drought conditions across the Southwest.
• According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, parts of New Mexico experienced a 5-class improvement in drought over the past 8 weeks.
• As winter begins, soil moisture across the Southwest is still relatively high.
• Despite a wet summer, most reservoir storages across the Southwest remain low, indicating ongoing long-term drought. Wet winter storms are needed.
• The La Niña pattern is likely to continue throughout the winter and transition to neutral by spring.
• The drought outlook shows drought likely to persist across the Southwest.

Forest Drought Indicator (ForDRI)

Speaker: Tsegaye Tedessa | National Drought Mitigation Center, University of Nebraska–Lincoln

• The Forest Drought Response Index (ForDRI) is a forest drought monitoring tool that integrates climate, satellite, and biophysical characteristics of the environment.
• The main objective of ForDRI is to identify and monitor drought impacts on forests to help forest managers and other users of this data in characterizing drought across forested areas.
• The tool is specifically designed to be applicable to forest ecosystems.

Questions & Answers

Speaker: Curtis Riganti | National Drought Mitigation Center, University of Nebraska – Lincoln