Drought

  • According to the Drought Monitor, released today, most states in our region saw just slight increases in drought-covered area this week. The biggest expansion of dry conditions was in Virginia, while other states saw smaller changes. Puerto Rico decreased in moderate (D1) drought but the area of abnormally dry conditions (D0) expanded significantly. Since Virginia…

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  • This regional gathering will bring together partners for the first time under the newly established Southeast Drought Early Warning System (SE DEWS) network to share and discuss ongoing drought-related activities, learn about new and innovative drought research and resources, explore emerging issues and opportunities, and identify collaborative paths forward that advance drought early warning and…

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  • Wildfires propagate by sending sparks downwind, igniting the dry material and spreading the fire. A new study published in Nature Geoscience looks at the propagation of droughts and shows that droughts move by creating rainfall deficits that cause areas of dry soil downwind. That eventually expands the drought as rainfall is suppressed by the lack…

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  • The latest Drought Monitor, released today, shows that there have been slight expansions of drought in North Carolina, Florida, and Georgia this week due to lack of rainfall, while the other states did not change. Puerto Rico saw a slight decrease in dry conditions this week. Rainfall amounts the next few days should be relatively…

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  • I’ve gotten some emails lately asking about how to report dry conditions and drought so that the Drought Monitor authors recognize that things are getting crunchy here in parts of the Southeast. Here is a refresher on what sites you can use to do it: There are a lot of different tools for monitoring drought…

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  • Droughts come and go as a natural part of climate. Some species of plants and animals are adapted to drought and need it as part of their life cycle. However, prolonged drought can cause devastation to the areas that are affected by it, and the people that live there can suffer significant hardship due to…

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  • The latest Drought Monitor, released today, shows only slight changes in most of the region from last week’s map. The biggest change was in Alabama, where recent rains have eliminated the small area of drought and substantially reduced the area of abnormally dry (D0) conditions. Other states had small changes to the areas of abnormally…

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