2024-2025 Mid-Atlantic Drought Assessment: Building Drought Early Warning Capacity and Resilience

In 2024, heat and a lack of rainfall led to widespread drought across Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia. For some locations, the 2024 drought was the worst the region had experienced in more than two decades. The region felt significant impacts across both natural and managed landscapes, and in multiple sectors including agriculture, mining, public health, and water utilities. In response to these conditions and impacts, NOAA’s National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS), Northeast Regional Climate Center (NRCC), and NOAA’s Regional Climate Services Eastern Region held a special drought webinar in September 2024 to deliver timely, relevant drought information and resources to decision-makers across West Virginia and Ohio, and surrounding states in the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic.