That is one ugly drough monitor map

[nadinbrzezinski]

https://twitter.com/NWS/status/449272545993183232/photo/1

[Aerows]

1. Indeed it is, Nadin

Central California supplies the majority of produce to the majority of Americans. Thank goodness I'm trying to grow some of my own this year. It looks like a bad year for produce prices

[truebrit71]

2. Wow...not pretty at all...

[Ex Lurker]

3. I'm not saying that map's inaccurate, I have no way of knowing, but

I do know about my local conditions. My area is listed as Abnormally Dry, and I have standing water on my property. Over the past month we've rarely had more than a day or two without measurable precipitation.

[nadinbrzezinski]

5. That is being put out by NOAA

They are looking at the really big picture.

[Aerows]

7. The "S" and the "L" designations kind of confuse me

You have areas listed as SL. What does that mean, does that mean some areas have short term extreme drought like you see in CA, and other parts of it are subject to long term drought? It would make a bit more sense if they tagged the areas, though you are right, it is a big picture view. A "little picture" view county by county would be helpful to assess all the information, though.

[Ex Lurker]

10. If you go to the home page, you can drill down

to the county level, or almost. I don't have the URL, but you can google it.

[nadinbrzezinski]

14. here home page

http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/

[nadinbrzezinski]

15. I think so, looking for that information in the home page

http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/

[Aerows]

18. Thanks, that was what I was interested in.

I don't live in CA, but it is worrying that our produce basket is suffering such drought.

[nadinbrzezinski]

17. And here, terms meaning

Drought or Dryness Types
S ... Short-Term, typically <6 months (e.g. agricultural, grasslands)

L ... Long-Term, typically >6 months (e.g. hydrology, ecology)

[Aerows]

19. I see

Thanks, that makes more sense. I'm not usually this dense, it just took me by surprise to see how bad it is in the West.

[nadinbrzezinski]

21. we expect a nasty fire season

[Aerows]

25. It has been cold as hell here on the *GULF COAST*

It was 39 yesterday morning. If that isn't weird for March, let alone the END of March, I have no idea what is. I'm a mile from the bay.

[nadinbrzezinski]

29. Weather patterns are expected to get more extreme

due to climate change. I do hope people are finally starting to get it.

[Ex Lurker]

9. I know parts of the country are in serious drought

I'm just curious what measurables they use. I look at the drought monitor ever week or two, sometimes it describes our local situation accurately, sometimes not so much.

[MO_Moderate]

4. I bet the tornad map is also pretty ugly

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. Has not run through my twitter feed

[pintobean]

8. The floo map, as well. /nt

[B2G]

11. LMA

[pintobean]

12. Snor

[pinboy3niner]

13. LO! SyFy's already working on FLOONADO! nt

[pintobean]

22. There's a book coming out

On Floo Ove The Conur Cag.

[zappaman]

23. I'm just glad we haven't had any earthquaks!

[pintobean]

24. Ummm...

we have one.

[Rex]

35. Just one?

nt.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

16. Surprisingly, Florida is pretty much in the clear.

After having been in the severe stages not all that long ago.

So I can only hope that there's hope for the regions currently affected.

[nadinbrzezinski]

20. There is discussion of a El Nino developing

which means a wet year for California next year.

http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/analysis_monitoring/enso_advisory/ensodisc.html

[MuseRider]

26. Yes it is.

We are having small dust storms in my little area. The map shows we are mostly out of drought but my ponds are either gone or down 4-6 feet. This area had only 1/2 the precip that it should have had last year, and the year before that and the year before that with extremely high temps and lots of very hard wind. I do not recognize the place anymore yet 3 miles on either side of me everything is better, much better. Odd how that happens. This is not good. So far we have not had an entire inch of rain this year total. We need 32-36 to be normal. This is the wet season. My geothermal pipes are showing in the big pond. We are dust dry 12 feet down.

[fascisthunter]

27. Makes me Curious as to what the Drought Maps of the past looked like

Well, here's one for Sept. 2013:
https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/news/us-drought-monitor-update-sept-17-2013

July 2012:


July 2011:


Dec 2010:

[deaniac21]

28. Drough?

[Motown_Johnny]

30. It is bad, but...

if you remember the big drought year a couple years ago, it was much worse.


It may just be me, but it seems as if the drought has slowly moved to the west over the last couple of years. With any luck it will continue that pattern and move off shore.


I am guessing this is because of jet stream patterns, but I could just be seeing a pattern where there isn't one.


P.S. here is a better link: http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/

[nadinbrzezinski]

31. The early prediction is talking of an El Nino pattern developing

which will break it.

It is also early in the year.

[Motown_Johnny]

33. I saw that too, but it seems that

about half the time they predict an el nino, it never develops.

[nadinbrzezinski]

34. And sometimes the pattern develops later in the year

and gets really bad (as in floods)

[Gothmog]

32. Houston is still in a mild drought

It makes me sad to see Memorial park right now. We lost a large number of trees in Houston