ORLANDO, Fla. – A new drought monitor map is released every Thursday, showing a map of the U.S. shaded in yellow, orange, and red. The map is a joint effort by the National Drought Mitigation Center (NDMC) at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln,
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the U.S. Department of Agriculture has been around for almost 25 years.
Despite what many think, this map is not a forecast. In actuality, the map represents drought. The map looks back at the last weeks data including the assessment of drought conditions and how much precipitation fell or didn’t fall up to the cutoff at Tuesday at 8 a.m.
It’s unique being it’s not a statistical model, although there are several sources of numerical data used. The information brought in by the Palmer Drought Severity Index, the Standardized Precipitation Index, along with climatological data from the Keech-Byram Drought Index are all used in coordination with expert analysis of the data and local observers who interpret the information given to determine how bad drought conditions are to compile this map.
The latest drought monitor map issued earlier Thursday, now shows the majority of Central Florida in the D2 classification, which is severe drought.
There are five categories of drought ranging from D0 which is abnormally dry either coming into or out of a drought up to D4 which is Exceptionally Dry, meaning widespread crop/pasture losses and shortages of water in reservoirs, streams, and wells creating water emergencies.
Why does this information matter? It’s more than just a crunchy lawn.
The USDA uses the drought monitor map to trigger disaster declarations and local entities use it to issue burn bans given the heightened fire risk with dry vegetation everywhere. Digging a little deeper into who uses this information reveals the Farm Service Agency uses the data to determine eligibility for Livestock Forage Program. Did you know the IRS uses this information too? That’s right the IRS uses the data for tax deferral on forced livestock sales due to drought.
Drought, although a slow-moving hazard causes big time damage. Losses in agriculture are noted along with impacts to the domestic water supply, how energy is produced, wildfires which impacts wildlife, and even human health.
Being the slow-moving hazard that it is, drought can take a while before conditions improve.
If there is no rain relief, conditions worsen resulting in a longer recovery time when rain finally falls. The amount of precipitation that falls is a big player too. Depending on how long an area has been in a drought and the severity of it, sometimes one or two days of heavy rainfall isn’t enough to end the drought. Just because the grass perks up and looks greener, doesn’t mean an area is free of drought.
The point is just because the losses aren’t immediately seen because of the slow-moving process, doesn’t mean it should be taken lightly. Monetary losses from drought are actually right up there with faster-moving disasters like tornadoes and hurricanes. They just happen over a longer period of time so they might not be as noticeable.
According to NCEI, last year’s Western/Central Drought and Heat Wave event that lasted all year racked up $22.2 billion in losses and over 100 heat-related fatalities, making it one of the costlier droughts on record with a diverse display of direct impacts.
For comparison purposes that’s more than hurricanes Fiona and Nicole. Compared to Hurricane Ian, where the damage cost was $112.9 billion, the drought doesn’t seem as bad and given the rapidness of a hurricane and immediate losses it isn’t.
When glancing at the fatalities in the overall event the numbers tell a different story. Any loss of life is tragic. Seeing these numbers should act as a reminder not to downplay any drought.
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