Launch Site

The U.S. Drought Monitor is unique, blending numeric measures of drought and experts' best judgment into a single map every week. It started in 1999 as a federal, state, and academic partnership, growing out of a Western Governors' Association initiative to provide timely and understandable scientific information on water supply and drought for policymakers.

The Monitor is produced by a rotating group of authors from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the National Drought Mitigation Center. It incorporates review from a group of 250 climatologists, extension agents, and others across the nation. Each week the author revises the previous map based on rain, snow and other events, observers' reports of how drought is affecting crops, wildlife and other indicators. Authors balance conflicting data and reports to come up with a new map every Wednesday afternoon. It is released the following Thursday morning.

Visit the US Drought Monitor for the current drought conditions.

Launch Site

The North American Drought Monitor is a monthly drought monitoring map for the entire continent that has been produced in cooperation with Canada and Mexico since 2003.

Several types of data and information flow into the Drought Monitors. They are described in more detail under "Supporting Data and Information" to the left. If you are interested in monitoring drought and water supply, it is recommended that you become familiar with a variety of indicators, and observe how each performs based on your specific needs. Depending on where you are, your state climatologist, state department of water resources or university may be able to provide further expertise as to which indicators would be most helpful.