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Alireza Farahmand
,
Sharon Ray
,
Heidar Thrastarson
,
Stephen Licata
,
Stephanie Granger
, and
Brian Fuchs
Open access
Emile Elias
,
Brian Fuchs
,
Joel Lisonbee
,
Tonya Bernadt
,
Viktorya Martinez
, and
Tonya Haigh

Abstract

The 2018 exceptional drought over the Colorado Plateau motivated unprecedented responses by individuals and organizations. Some of these responses made clear that proactive adaptive measures were fundamental to drought resilience. Climate service organizations (CSOs) supporting and observing these responses realized the utility of a network to share and document successful drought responses. In February 2020, a small group of CSOs and resource managers (RMs) met to envision the Southwest Drought Learning Network (DLN) to align with other existing efforts, but with the specific goal of enabling peer-to-peer learning to build resilience to future droughts. Since then, the network has grown into five organized teams focused on specific aspects of building drought resilience. Team activities include sharing case studies to help others learn from past experiences, hosting monthly drought briefings that introduce drought data and management tools, identifying information needed to support critical management decisions, innovating and sharing new and traditional drought monitoring technologies, and building drought resilience with indigenous communities. The network allows for collaboration and leveraging partner resources and strengths. The DLN website (https://dln.swclimatehub.info/) hosts more information about network teams and activities. This innovative network continues to grow in response to management needs and water scarcity in the region. For the benefit of others who may be considering a similar network and supporting peer-to-peer learning, we document the history, process, and lessons learned regarding the Southwest DLN.

Open access
Deborah J. Bathke
,
Holly R. Prendeville
,
Aaron Jacobs
,
Richard Heim
,
Rick Thoman
, and
Brian Fuchs
Full access
Tsegaye Tadesse
,
Brian D. Wardlow
,
Jesslyn F. Brown
,
Mark D. Svoboda
,
Michael J. Hayes
,
Brian Fuchs
, and
Denise Gutzmer

Abstract

The vegetation drought response index (VegDRI), which combines traditional climate- and satellite-based approaches for assessing vegetation conditions, offers new insights into assessing the impacts of drought from local to regional scales. In 2011, the U.S. southern Great Plains, which includes Texas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico, was plagued by moderate to extreme drought that was intensified by an extended period of record-breaking heat. The 2011 drought presented an ideal case study to evaluate the performance of VegDRI in characterizing developing drought conditions. Assessment of the spatiotemporal drought patterns represented in the VegDRI maps showed that the severity and patterns of the drought across the region corresponded well to the record warm temperatures and much-below-normal precipitation reported by the National Climatic Data Center and the sectoral drought impacts documented by the Drought Impact Reporter (DIR). VegDRI values and maps also showed the evolution of the drought signal before the Las Conchas Fire (the largest fire in New Mexico’s history). Reports in the DIR indicated that the 2011 drought had major adverse impacts on most rangeland and pastures in Texas and Oklahoma, resulting in total direct losses of more than $12 billion associated with crop, livestock, and timber production. These severe impacts on vegetation were depicted by the VegDRI at subcounty, state, and regional levels. This study indicates that the VegDRI maps can be used with traditional drought indicators and other in situ measures to help producers and government officials with various management decisions, such as justifying disaster assistance, assessing fire risk, and identifying locations to move livestock for grazing.

Full access
Mary Noel
,
Deborah Bathke
,
Brian Fuchs
,
Denise Gutzmer
,
Tonya Haigh
,
Michael Hayes
,
Markéta Poděbradská
,
Claire Shield
,
Kelly Smith
, and
Mark Svoboda

Abstract

The U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM), a weekly map depicting severity and spatial extent of drought, is used to communicate about drought in state and federal decision-making, and as a trigger in response policies, including the distribution of hundreds of millions of dollars for agricultural financial relief in the United States annually. An accompanying classification table helps interpret the map and includes a column of possible impacts associated with each level of drought severity. However, the column describing potential drought impacts is generalized for the entire United States. To provide more geographically specific interpretation of drought, state and regionally specific drought impact classification tables were developed by linking impacts chronicled in the Drought Impact Reporter (DIR) to USDM severity levels across the United States and Puerto Rico and identifying recurrent themes at each level. After creating state-level tables of impacts observed for each level of drought, a nationwide survey was administered to drought experts and decision-makers (n = 89), including the USDM authors, to understand whether the tables provided accurate descriptions of drought impacts in their state. Seventy-six percent of respondents indicated the state table was an acceptable or good characterization of drought impacts for their respective state. This classification scheme was created with a reproducible qualitative methodology that used past observations to identify themes in drought impacts across multiple sectors to concisely describe expected impacts at different levels of drought in each state.

Free access
Mary Noel
,
Deborah Bathke
,
Brian Fuchs
,
Denise Gutzme
,
Tonya Haigh
,
Michael Hayes
,
Markéta Poděbradská
,
Claire Shield
,
Kelly Smith
, and
Mark Svoboda
Full access
Kelly Helm Smith
,
Mark E. Burbach
,
Michael J. Hayes
,
Patrick E. Guinan
,
Andrew J. Tyre
,
Brian Fuchs
,
Tonya Haigh
, and
Mark D. Svoboda

Abstract

Drought-related decision-making and policy should go beyond numeric hydrometeorological data to incorporate information on how drought affects people, livelihoods, and ecosystems. The effects of drought are nested within environmental and human systems, and relevant data may not exist in readily accessible form. For example, drought may reduce forage growth, compounded by both late-season freezes and management decisions. An effort to gather crowdsourced drought observations in Missouri in 2018 yielded a much higher number of observations than did previous related efforts. Here we examine 1) the interests, circumstances, history, and recruitment messaging that coincided to produce a high number of reports in a short time; 2) whether and how information from volunteer observers was useful to state decision-makers and to U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM) authors; and 3) potential for complementary use of stakeholder and citizen science reports in assessing trustworthiness of volunteer-provided information. State officials and the Cattlemen’s Association made requests for reports, clearly linked to improving the accuracy of the USDM and the related financial benefit. Well-timed requests provided a focus for people’s energy and a reason to invest their time. State officials made use of the dense spatial coverage that observers provided. USDM authors were very cautious about a surge of reports coinciding closely with financial incentives linked to the Livestock Forage Disaster program. An after-the-fact comparison between stakeholder reports and parallel citizen science reports suggests that the two could be complementary, with potential for developing protocols to facilitate real-time use.

Open access
Andrew Hoell
,
Britt-Anne Parker
,
Michael Downey
,
Natalie Umphlett
,
Kelsey Jencso
,
F. Adnan Akyuz
,
Dannele Peck
,
Trevor Hadwen
,
Brian Fuchs
,
Doug Kluck
,
Laura Edwards
,
Judith Perlwitz
,
Jon Eischeid
,
Veva Deheza
,
Roger Pulwarty
, and
Kathryn Bevington
Full access
Andrew Hoell
,
Britt-Anne Parker
,
Michael Downey
,
Natalie Umphlett
,
Kelsey Jencso
,
F. Adnan Akyuz
,
Dannele Peck
,
Trevor Hadwen
,
Brian Fuchs
,
Doug Kluck
,
Laura Edwards
,
Judith Perlwitz
,
Jon Eischeid
,
Veva Deheza
,
Roger Pulwarty
, and
Kathryn Bevington

Abstract

The 2017 flash drought arrived without early warning and devastated the U.S. northern Great Plains region comprising Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota and the adjacent Canadian Prairies. The drought led to agricultural production losses exceeding $2.6 billion in the United States, widespread wildfires, poor air quality, damaged ecosystems, and degraded mental health. These effects motivated a multiagency collaboration among academic, tribal, state, and federal partners to evaluate drought early warning systems, coordination efforts, communication, and management practices with the goal of improving resilience and response to future droughts. This essay provides an overview on the causes, predictability, and historical context of the drought, the impacts of the drought, opportunities for drought early warning, and an inventory of lessons learned. Key lessons learned include the following: 1) building partnerships during nondrought periods helps ensure that proper relationships are in place for a coordinated and effective drought response; 2) drought information providers must improve their understanding of the annual decision cycles of all relevant sectors, including, and beyond, direct impacts in agricultural sectors; and 3) ongoing monitoring of environmental conditions is vital to drought early warning, given that seasonal forecasts lack skill over the northern Great Plains.

Full access
Yolande L. Serra
,
Jennifer S. Haase
,
David K. Adams
,
Qiang Fu
,
Thomas P. Ackerman
,
M. Joan Alexander
,
Avelino Arellano
,
Larissa Back
,
Shu-Hua Chen
,
Kerry Emanuel
,
Zeljka Fuchs
,
Zhiming Kuang
,
Benjamin R Lintner
,
Brian Mapes
,
David Neelin
,
David Raymond
,
Adam H. Sobel
,
Paul W. Staten
,
Aneesh Subramanian
,
David W. J. Thompson
,
Gabriel Vecchi
,
Robert Wood
, and
Paquita Zuidema
Full access