Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) for Santa Barbara County (1895 - 2023)

Monthly Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) data for Jan. 1985 to the time of analysis (Dec. 2023) for Santa Barbara County were obtained from the Desert Research Institute (wrcc.dri.edu) WestWide Drought Tracker (https://wrcc.dri.edu/wwdt/time/). PDSI considers a soil moisture balance, accounting for precipitation, temperature, and potential evapotranspiration. The index ranges from -10 to 10 with negative being dry and positive being wet. Any index above or below 3 indicates an exceptional level of these conditions. The dataset uploaded here is just a compilation of the data produced by the Desert Research Institute WestWide Drought Tracker team and they should be cited. All data is publicly available. The charts within the Excel sheet were generated by Ava Marks (UCSB Geography, BS 2024) and Madison Heffentrager (UCSB Geography, PhD Student) for drought analysis only from 1929-2023. Please cite appropriately if used.