June 27, 2023 – In choosing content, Redwood Learn seeks stories that have a foundation that does not change. That is the case of stories about drought conditinos in the United States. It’s fascinating to compare maps from week-to-week and then even year-to-year. Below is a story from 2021. Compare these maps to the most recent map fro 2023. 

June 28, 2021 – Large areas of the country are experiencing extreme and exceptional drought conditions, the two most severe levels of drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

Posted weekly, assessment of drought conditions is very helpful to farmers who with a glance at the map, have an overview of their area and the country as a whole. Some may say farmers don’t need a map to know their fields need rain but the map also has short term and long term assessments to provide additional information to farmers. Keeping an eye on the clouds for rain, farmers also have the weekly Drought Monitor map to use to assess their fields and then as fall approaches, their harvest.

Five Levels of Drought

The five levels of drought (from less severe to most severe) are:
1. Abnormally dry (D0 – yellow on  map)
2. Moderate drought (D1 – tan on map)
3. Severe drought (D2 – orange on map)
4. Extreme drought (D3 – red on map)
5. Exceptional drought (D4 – maroon on map)

About the U.S. Drought Monitor

The Drought Monitor is a collaboration between the National Drought Mitigation Center (NDMC) at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). It has been produced since 1999. The NDMC hosts the Drought Monitor website and provides the map and data to NOAA, the USDA and other agencies.

It’s both a scholarly and practical endeavor. According to the Drought Monitor website, the USDA uses the drought monitor to trigger disaster declarations and eligibility for low-interest loans. The Farm Service Agency uses it to help determine eligibility for their Livestock Forage Program, and the Internal Revenue Service uses it for tax deferral on forced livestock sales due to drought. State, local, tribal and basin-level decision makers use it to trigger drought responses, ideally along with other more local indicators of drought.

Irrigation

Many farmers have irrigation systems ready to go to make sure their crops receive enough water to thrive. Drawing from wells deep in the ground, the cost of irrigation is the cost of the equipment. But nothing beats the water that falls from the sky for low cost.

Let’s hope summer weather is kind to Iowa farmers this summer after they suffered from a freak storm, called a derecho, in August 2020. Very strong front line winds flattened hundreds of thousands of acres of corn. Iowa grows more corn than any other state so the storm was devastating not only to Iowa but also to the nation.

And the derecho was on top of the pandemic. Farmers are known for being resilient as they always face Mother Nature each day of the year but 2020 was a year of unprecedented challenges as Mother Nature hit them with both a storm and a virus.

Everyone is looking forward to summer 2021 for some fun in the sun with friends and family. Ice cream socials, even with a little bit of social distancing, are far better than connecting virtually as so many people had to do last summer.

Check back for updates on drought conditions in the United States throughout the summer.

UPDATE: July 15, 2021 – The map below shows drought conditions as of July 6, 2021.

UPDATE: Aug. 31, 2021 (Drought conditions as of Aug. 24, 2021)

UPDATE: Drought Conditions as of Oct. 5, 2021

REVIEW QUESTIONS

1. What is drought?

2. What is the most severe category of drought?

3. How long has the Drought Monitor been published?

4. How often is the Drought Monitor published?

5. Who produces the Drought Monitor?

6. How does the USDA use the Drought Monitor?

INQUIRY QUESTIONS

1. Find your county on the latest Drought Monitor map. What is the staus of drought in your area? How does weather data in your area support the assessment from the Drought Monitor?

2. What is the impact of sustained extreme and exceptional drought conditions on food production?

3. Compare the map as of June 22, 2021 to the map of June 20, 2023. What conclusions can you draw? In other words, where have conditions improved or worsened? Cite one example of each.