I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again…the best way to ensure the end of drought is for the USDA Southern Plains Climate Hub to start talking about it.
That’s not fair. Even though we did get a significant amount of rain in Oklahoma last week, a large percentage of the region is still struggling with dry conditions. That said, it was good to see the rain come after our podcast, video and blog last week about flash drought—and for those of you who got rain, you’re welcome.
All that aside, the dry conditions are still lingering in parts of the region and the long term outlook still calls for above normal temperatures and below normal precipitation. We still need to keep a close eye on the potential for the development and strengthening of droughts.
In that spirit, we want to highlight the work of one of our long-term partners, the National Integrated Drought Information Systems (NIDIS) network (check out https://www.drought.gov/ for more info). NIDIS is a multi-agency partnership that coordinates drought monitoring, forecasting, planning, and information at national, state, and local levels across the country. Authorized by Congress in 2006 (Public Law 109–430) and reauthorized in 2014 and 2019, NIDIS was given an interagency mandate to coordinate and integrate drought research, building upon existing federal, tribal, state, and local partnerships in support of creating a national drought early warning information system. Develops leadership and partnerships to ensure successful implementation of an integrated national drought monitoring and forecasting system at federal, state, and local levels.
Through its program’s office in Boulder, Colorado NIDS collects and integrates information on the key indicators of drought to make usable, reliable, and timely drought forecasts and assessments. It fosters and supports a research environment that focuses on risk assessment, forecasting, and management. NIDIS works to provide accurate, timely, and integrated information on drought conditions and associated risks to facilitate proactive decision making and offers a framework for increasing public awareness and education on how and why droughts occur, and how they impact human and natural systems.
That’s a long way to say they are a great resource when it comes to drought information. One of their more recent tools, the Drought Early Warning System, will even alert you when drought conditions change in your area (to sign up for the Drought Early Warning System or DEWS and the NIDIS newsletter Dry Times use this link. You can also sign up for the drought email alerts when the drought monitor changes for your county here: https://www.drought.gov/drought-alerts/signup )
For more information on NIDIS, check out our podcast interview with Joel Lisonbee, Regional Drought Information Coordinator for the Intermountain West and Southern Plains–https://southernplainspodcast.libsyn.com/southern-plains-podcast-47-joel-lisonbee-and-the-national-integrated-drought-information-system-nidis or check out their website at https://www.drought.gov/.
NIDIS is a great resource on drought—we think you’ll be happy you connected with them.
Southern Plains Perspective 