USA Drought Intensity - Current Conditions

Drought occurs when a region has an imbalance between water supply and
water demand over an extended period of time. Droughts can have
significant environmental, economic, and social consequences. Between
1980 and the present time, the cost of drought exceeded 100 billion
dollars, making drought monitoring a key factor in planning,
preparedness, and mitigation efforts at all levels of government. <br /><div><br /></div><div><span style='font-weight:bold;'>Data Source:</span> <a href='https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/' target='_blank' rel='nofollow ugc noopener noreferrer'>U.S. Drought Monitor</a>, National Drought Mitigation Center, <a href='https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/DmData/GISData.aspx' target='_blank' rel='nofollow ugc noopener noreferrer'>GISData Download</a></div><div><br /></div><div><div><b>Update Frequency:</b>  Weekly, typically on Friday around 10:00AM <a href='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coordinated_Universal_Time' target='_blank' rel='nofollow ugc noopener noreferrer'>UTC</a>. Using the <a href='https://www.esriurl.com/LiveFeed' target='_blank' rel='nofollow ugc noopener noreferrer'>Aggregated Live Feed Methodology</a></div><div><br /></div></div><div><span style='font-weight:bold;'>For Full Historical data:</span> See <a href='https://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=9731f9062afd45f2be7b3bf2e050fbfa' target='_blank' rel='nofollow ugc noopener noreferrer'>USA Drought Intensity 2000 - Present</a> Online Item!</div><div><span style='font-weight:bold;'>For USDM Symbology Style</span>: See <a href='https://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=c4f3367697ee4d30bc65b5290d9a83e1' target='_blank' rel='nofollow ugc noopener noreferrer'>USA Drought Intensity - Current Conditions - USDM Color Scheme</a> Online Item!<br /></div><div><span style='font-weight:bold;'><br /></span></div><div><span style='font-weight:bold;'>Dataset Summary:</span><br /></div>This
feature service provides access to current drought
intensity categories for the entire USA. These data have been produced
weekly since January 4, 2000 by the U.S. Drought Monitor, see the <a href='https://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=9731f9062afd45f2be7b3bf2e050fbfa' target='_blank' rel='nofollow ugc noopener noreferrer'>Full Historical data</a> for the full
time series. Drought intensity is classified according
to the deviation of precipitation, stream flow, and soil moisture
content from historically established norms, in addition to subjective
observations and reported impacts from more than 350 partners across the
country. New map data is released <span>every Thursday to reflect the conditions of the previous week.</span><div><br /></div><div><span style='font-weight:bold;'>Layer Summary:</span><ul><li>'<span style='font-weight:bold;'><span style='font-style:italic;'>US_Drought_Current</span></span>': Polygon areas for most recent week<br /></li></ul></div>This Layer contains a series of drought classification summaries
that fall into two groups: Categorical Percent Area and Cumulative Percent
Area.

<div><p style='margin-top:3.0pt; background:white;'><span style='text-decoration:underline;'>Categorical
Percent Area</span>
statistic is the percent of the area in a
certain drought category and excludes areas that are better or worse. For
example, the D0 category is labeled as such and only shows the percent of the
area experiencing abnormally dry conditions.</p>

<span style='text-decoration:underline;'>Cumulative Percent Area</span> statistics combine drought categories for a comprehensive percent of
area in drought. For example, the D0-D4 category shows the percent of the area
that is classified as D0 or worse.</div><div><span style='font-size:11.0pt; font-family:&quot;Arial&quot;,sans-serif; color:black;'><span style='background:white;'><br /></span></span></div><div><span style='font-weight:bold;'>Drought Classification Categories are as follows:</span><br /><table border='0' cellpadding='0' cellspacing='0' style='border-collapse:collapse; width:590pt;'><tbody>
<tr>
<td style='text-align:center; border-color:windowtext windowtext currentcolor; border-style:solid solid none; border-width:1pt 0.5pt medium 1pt;'><font size='3'><span style='font-weight:bold;'>Class</span></font></td>
<td style='width:127pt; text-align:center; border-color:windowtext windowtext currentcolor; border-style:solid solid none; border-width:1pt 0.5pt medium;'><font size='3'><span style='font-weight:bold;'>Description</span></font></td>
<td style='width:350pt; text-align:center; border-color:windowtext windowtext currentcolor; border-style:solid solid none; border-width:1pt 1pt medium 0.5pt;'><font size='3'><span style='font-weight:bold;'>Possible Impacts</span></font></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style='width:43pt; text-align:center; border-top:.5pt solid windowtext; border-right:none; border-bottom:.5pt dashed windowtext; border-left:1.0pt solid windowtext; background:#F0DFA6;'><span style='font-weight:bold;'><font size='3'>D0</font></span></td>
<td style='width:127pt; text-align:center; border-top:.5pt solid windowtext; border-right:.5pt solid windowtext; border-bottom:.5pt dashed windowtext; border-left:.5pt solid windowtext; background:#F0DFA6;'><span style='font-weight:bold;'><font size='3'>Abnormally Dry</font></span></td>
<td style='width:350pt; text-align:center; border-top:.5pt solid windowtext; border-right:1.0pt solid windowtext; border-bottom:.5pt dashed windowtext; border-left:none; background:#F0DFA6;'><span style='font-weight:bold;'><font size='3'>Going into drought: short-term dryness slows growth of crops/pastures. Coming out of drought: some lingering water deficits; drops/pastures not fully recovered.</font></span></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style='text-align:center; border-top:.5pt dashed windowtext; border-right:none; border-bottom:.5pt dashed windowtext; border-left:1.0pt solid windowtext; background:#EDC97B; border-top:none; width:43pt;'><span style='font-weight:bold;'><font size='3'>D1</font></span></td>
<td style='width:127pt; text-align:center; border-top:.5pt dashed windowtext; border-right:.5pt solid windowtext; border-bottom:.5pt dashed windowtext; border-left:.5pt solid windowtext; background:#EDC97B;'><span style='font-weight:bold;'><font size='3'>Moderate Drought</font></span></td>
<td style='width:350pt; text-align:center; border-top:.5pt dashed windowtext; border-right:1.0pt solid windowtext; border-bottom:.5pt dashed windowtext; border-left:none; background:#EDC97B;'><span style='font-weight:bold;'><font size='3'>Some damage to crops/pastures; streams, reservoirs, or wells are low with some water shortages developing or imminent; voluntary water-use restrictions requested.</font></span></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style='border-top:none; width:43pt; text-align:center; border-top:.5pt dashed windowtext; border-right:none; border-bottom:.5pt dashed windowtext; border-left:1.0pt solid windowtext; background:#EB9550;'><span style='font-weight:bold;'><font size='3'>D2</font></span></td>
<td style='border-top:none; width:127pt; text-align:center; border-top:.5pt dashed windowtext; border-right:.5pt solid windowtext; border-bottom:.5pt dashed windowtext; border-left:.5pt solid windowtext; background:#EB9550;'><span style='font-weight:bold;'><font size='3'>Severe Drought</font></span></td>
<td style='border-top:none; width:350pt; text-align:center; border-top:.5pt dashed windowtext; border-right:1.0pt solid windowtext; border-bottom:.5pt dashed windowtext; border-left:none; background:#EB9550;'><span style='font-weight:bold;'><font size='3'>Crop/pasture losses are likely; water shortages are common and water retrictions are imposed.</font></span></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style='border-top:none; width:43pt; color:white; text-align:center; border-top:.5pt dashed windowtext; border-right:none; border-bottom:.5pt dashed windowtext; border-left:1.0pt solid windowtext; background:#D94D23;'><span style='font-weight:bold;'><font size='3'>D3</font></span></td>
<td style='border-top:none; width:127pt; color:white; text-align:center; border-top:.5pt dashed windowtext; border-right:.5pt solid windowtext; border-bottom:.5pt dashed windowtext; border-left:.5pt solid windowtext; background:#D94D23;'><span style='font-weight:bold;'><font size='3'>Extreme Drought</font></span></td>
<td style='border-top:none; width:350pt; color:white; text-align:center; border-top:.5pt dashed windowtext; border-right:1.0pt solid windowtext; border-bottom:.5pt dashed windowtext; border-left:none; background:#D94D23;'><span style='font-weight:bold;'><font size='3'>Major crop/pasture losses; widespread water shortages or restrictions.</font></span></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style='border-top:none; width:43pt; color:white; text-align:center; border-top:.5pt dashed windowtext; border-right:none; border-bottom:1.0pt solid windowtext; border-left:1.0pt solid windowtext; background:#990000;'><span style='font-weight:bold;'><font size='3'>D4</font></span></td>
<td style='border-top:none; width:127pt; color:white; text-align:center; border-top:.5pt dashed windowtext; border-right:.5pt solid windowtext; border-bottom:1.0pt solid windowtext; border-left:.5pt solid windowtext; background:#990000;'><span style='font-weight:bold;'><font size='3'>Exceptional Drought</font></span></td>
<td style='width:350pt; color:white; text-align:center; border-top:.5pt dashed windowtext; border-right:1.0pt solid windowtext; border-bottom:1.0pt solid windowtext; border-left:none; background:#990000;'><span style='font-weight:bold;'><font size='3'>Exceptional and widespread crop/pasture losses; shortages of water in reservoirs, streams, and wells creating water emergencies.</font></span></td>
</tr></tbody></table><br />The
U.S. Drought Monitor is produced in partnership between the National
Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the
United States Department of Agriculture, and the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration. It is the drought map that the USDA and IRS
use to define which farms have been affected by drought conditions,
defining who is eligible for federal relief funds.</div>