The National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln helps people and institutions reduce vulnerability to drought, stressing preparedness and risk management rather than crisis management.
This year’s widespread drought across the central U.S. has created an increase in interest in the U.S. Drought Monitor map released each Thursday based on data through the previous Tuesday.
“The patterns in place now are likely to persist,” said Brian Fuchs, UNL climatologist and U.S. Drought Monitor author, referring to the Seasonal Drought Outlook released Sept. 6 and valid through Nov. 30.
“It shows improvements over the southwestern U.S., especially in Arizona and the Four Corners region,” he said. “But drought is likely to persist through much of the Great Basin, Rocky Mountains, and central and southern Plains. It’ll keep improving over the Midwest and Southeast and New England.”
The U.S. Drought Monitor map is jointly produced by:
-the National Drought Mitigation Center at UNL
-the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
-the U.S. Department of Agriculture
-and about 350 drought observers across the country
Statistics for the percent area in each category of drought are automatically added to the U.S. Drought Monitor website each week for the entire country and Puerto Rico, for the 48 contiguous states, for each climate region, and for individual states.
NEW WEBSITE OFFERS DROUGHT RESOURCES
UNL Extension has created a new website that offers resources from the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources and others for dealing with drought in the region.
The site is at http://droughtresources.unl.edu
"By all accounts," Lodl said, "it appears the 2012 drought may be one for the record books. While we can't control that, we can do our best to manage water resources to mitigate damage. That's what we're committed to in UNL Extension."
The new site includes links to information on:
-crops
-livestock
-economics
-water
-families
-home and garden
It also includes:
-the latest weather forecasts from state climatologist Al Dutcher
-links to programing from Market Journal, CropWatch and Backyard Farmer
-UNL Extension publications
-UNL news releases
-and links to a number of key resources outside the university
More details at: http://go.unl.edu/dpi