New, Interactive Web Site Tracks Drought

The government unveiled a new Web site for the public and civic managers to monitor U.S. drought conditions, get forecasts, and know how drought impacts their communities or what mitigation measures exist. Called the U.S. Drought Portal, the site was developed for the National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS). A seemingly slow and nomadic natural disaster threat, drought blankets about a third of the United States at any given time.

"The new portal site provides all the information that managers need in one location, and delivers unprecedented access to key operational drought resources to answer the most pressing questions facing policymakers, emergency planners, businesses and the public," said retired Navy Vice Adm. Conrad Lautenbacher, Ph.D., undersecretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator. "Everyone now has the ability to learn facts they need: What are the current drought conditions, its effects and when will it end?"

NIDIS is a collaboration between numerous federal agencies and several state governments to provide a dynamic and accessible drought-risk information system. NIDIS was created in response to extended drought conditions over the past decade, with strong advocacy from the Western Governors' Association and other groups. NIDIS, led by NOAA, coordinates use of the U.S. Drought Portal for drought risk assessment and management among its federal, state, tribal and local partners.

"The drought-related emergencies in the Southeast and Southern California underscore the importance of having timely, accessible, and actionable information on drought from the national to the local level," said Chester Koblinsky, director of NOAA's Climate Program Office. Koblinsky and Donald Wilhite, director of the University of Nebraska's School of Natural Resources, co-chair the NIDIS Executive Council.

NIDIS is intended to strengthen public and private sector partnerships, foster and support research, create an early warning system to detect drought and raise public awareness about why drought occurs and its impact on humans and nature. The goal of NIDIS is to improve the ability to understand and respond to climate change, natural disasters, and global environmental issues through better observation, data, analysis, models, and basic social science research.

"The U.S. Drought Portal centralizes drought information in an unprecedented manner, and paves the way for planned early warning system development pilots in select watersheds and states across the U.S.," said Roger Pulwarty, director of the NIDIS program office located on NOAA's campus in Boulder, Colo.