Although, news media coverage of the California drought has fizzled over time, the reality is that many parts of my home-state continue to be under “Extreme” or “Exceptional” drought conditions.
The United States Drought Monitor (USDM) is a useful tool in analyzing current drought conditions across the United States. The USDM is a joint project by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
With weekly comparisons, data tables, and even GIS data (among other useful tools), anybody can log on and examine the different effects of drought conditions. Users can examine specific attributes such as percent of normal rainfall and the Vegetation Drought Response Index (VegDRI) of a given state.
As the drought in California and other parts of the United States drag on, it is important to be informed about conditions and develop plans to save water.
Hey Melvin,
This website is a great resource for anyone who wants to learn about droughts and its impact on the United States. The homepage of this website releases a weekly map of the intensity of droughts in different states. The Comparison Slider allows us to compare the change in the intensity of drought between two time periods. This website is very helpful because it not only lets people examine the drought conditions but also spreads awareness about the severity of droughts.
This is a cool website because you are able to compare droughts from year to year as well as state to state. The maps are very helpful in understanding the data. Especially with the droughts and wildfires that we are seeing across the country, this is a very relevant website.
This website is very interesting and helpful to understand droughts especially because it shows a relative scale between different states that allows you to compare how each area of the country is being affected differently. Also, I was very surprised by the number of states being affected by droughts!
Melvin,
I really appreciate you posting this. I though the site was so interesting. I had no idea that there was an ‘exceptional drought’ in the Southeastern United States. I am really curious as to why these conditions might be the case and why that particular drought does not receive as much media coverage as the drought in California? Also, it appears that whether a location is in a drought state or not seems to be independent from temperature. I wonder if there are any prevailing studies on this relationship? I found this intellectually stimulating and thought provoking. Once again, thanks for posting!
I like your post about the website that can help us droughts. I think it is a good resource to understand the patterns of droughts and also can be useful in predicting future droughts.