The U.S. Drought Monitor map shows parts of the U.S. that are in drought, how intense it is, and short-term and long-term impacts. As the Water & Cropping Systems Extension Educator for Gage, Jefferson, and Saline counties, I contribute reports for this area directly to the weekly authors in Nebraska through our internal Nebraska drought discussion group email listserv or online meetings. I regularly communicate my observations and those shared with me by local stakeholders, which can help justify moving areas into higher or lower intensity classifications. The map uses intensity classifications: abnormally dry (D0), showing areas that may be going into or are coming out of drought, and four levels of drought: moderate (D1), severe (D2), extreme (D3) and exceptional (D4). Most of Saline County and half of Jefferson County are still in moderate drought (D1) and half of Jefferson County and all of Gage County is considered abnormally dry (DO). You can view the most recent map at droughtmonitor.unl.edu.
The U.S. Drought Monitor is produced jointly by 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). Several authors from the NDMC, NOAA and USDA create the map and usually take turns every two weeks. The NDMC hosts the drought monitor website, associated data, and provides the map and data to other agencies. The USDA uses the U.S. Drought Monitor to determine producer’s eligibility for certain drought assistance programs like the Livestock Forage Program and emergency haying and grazing of CRP acres.
The U.S. Drought Monitor is a snapshot of current drought conditions, not a forecast. Each map is an update of the one before. The map comes out on Thursday and shows what happened up through Tuesday morning. Precipitation that falls on Wednesday won’t change the next day’s map, but it might change next week’s map. This gives the author at least two days to look at all the data and make a final map.
There are multiple ways you can contribute your observations to the process. In Gage, Jefferson, and Saline counties, feel free to contact me and I can relay your observations along with mine to the authors. You can email the Ag Meteorology and Climate Resilience Extension Educator, Eric Hunt (), or the authors directly at . Lastly, you can submit reports online at https://droughtimpacts.unl.edu/Tools/ConditionMonitoringObservations.aspx
For more information about the Drought Monitor and other agronomic resources from Nebraska Extension, contact me at or 402-821-1722. Know your crop, know your tech, know your bottom line at croptechcafe.org.
