DROUGHT Lab Instructions & Links

(1) Start at the NIDIS Drought Portal to investigate the current status of drought (Questions 1 through 5):

http://www.drought.gov/

(2) Use additional resources to describe characteristics of the current drought or to investigate recent droughts in your area for your briefing (Questions 6 through 11).

Critical Questions and Resource Links:

(1) What is the current status of drought across the U.S.? Which areas are experiencing the worst drought conditions? Is the pattern consistent with the current ENSO cycle? What is the drought status of your area?

(2) Describe the difference in impacts between a D0 and a D3 drought?

(3) What percent of the U.S. is currently experiencing conditions of D0 or greater? D2 or greater? Is any area in the country currently experiencing D4, or exceptional drought

(4) What is the drought outlook for the U.S. at this time? What is the outlook for your area?

(5) According the to the drought information statement issued by NWS Norman, what are their current impacts?

(6) For an area experiencing drought, what has the trend been for the last year? For example, in Arkansas what percent of the state is currently experiencing D3-D4 drought conditions? How does that compare to one year ago?

http://www.drought.unl.edu/dm/monitor.html

(7) According to the Drought Summary from October 18, 2011, what is basis of the current drought status and what are the recent changes to drought conditions in your area?

http://www.drought.unl.edu/dm/monitor.html

(8) Using the Standardized Precipitation Index for a time interval of 72 months, what areas of the CONUS are classified as very dry or extremely dry? For a climate division in your area, are any time intervals classified as very dry or extremely dry?

http://www.wrcc.dri.edu/spi/spi.html

http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/temp-and-precip/drought/nadm/indices.php? (choose SPI)

(9) Where might current soil moisture deficits contribute to a persistence of drought? What are the soil conditions in your area?

http://www.hydro.washington.edu/forecast/monitor/

(10) When have droughts historically occurred in your area? How severe was the last drought?

http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/temp-and-precip/time-series/index.php? (choose PDSI)

http://www.drought.unl.edu/dm/archive.html

(11) Are droughts in your area generally related to the ENSO cycle?

http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/enso/climaterisks/

Or use links from previous presentations:

ENSO Composites:

http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/precip/CWlink/ENSO/composites/

ENSO Boxplots:
http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/precip/CWlink/ENSO/box_whiskers/index.php

Last modified: Tuesday, September 18, 2012, 8:38 AM