News

March 7, 2024

Varisco joins NDMC as social scientist

Kelsey Varisco is the newest member of the National Drought Mitigation Center team. As a social scientist, she will be engaging with local communities and collaborating with climate experts on drought resilience projects.

January 26, 2024

Brief mentions January 2024

A new paper seeks to provide more detailed descriptions and analysis of flash drought definitions and impacts. A new article provides insight into how climate change can impact the performance of cereal rye cover crop. A new study summarizes the results of user engagement and published literature to help users understand which drought-monitoring tools to use for local conditions. A newly published paper seeks to identify areas of the Great Plains where drought has the strongest relationship to oceanic teleconnections.

January 25, 2024

NDMC partners with the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification on drought impacts policy brief

To highlight global drought impacts and the need for related programs, the National Drought Mitigation Center authored a policy brief on drought impacts for the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification. “The Cascading and Compounding Impacts of Drought” was released at the 2023 UN Climate Change Conference, COP 28, in Dubai in December 2023.

December 6, 2023

Bathke selected to serve as interim state climatologist

Deborah Bathke, NDMC climatologist and education coordinator, has been named interim state climatologist in the Nebraska State Climate Office by Larkin Powell, director of the University of Nebraska–Lincon’s School of Natural Resources.

November 20, 2023

NU researchers, alumni contribute to national climate assessment

University of Nebraska researchers and alumni contributed expertise to the Fifth National Climate Assessment. Released by the Biden administration on Nov. 14, the report includes more than 500 authors and 250 contributors.

October 30, 2023

ForDRI monitors and predicts drought in U.S. forests

Tracking drought in forests can be a challenge due to the diverse array of plant life they contain. A new tool developed by the National Drought Mitigation Center, the Forest Drought Response Index (ForDRI), provides a way to monitor forest drought in the continental U.S.

October 30, 2023

Brief mentions October 2023

Spanish CMOR graphics now available, NDMC collaborates on rural climate resilience project, article examines flash drought definitions and more.

October 17, 2023

NDMC analysis finds changing snow, precipitation trends in the Northeast

The NDMC investigated changing characteristics of winter precipitation in the Northeast U.S. to help address gaps in current research. This work was done in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Northeast Climate Hub.

October 2, 2023

Objective blends now include machine learning technology, new inputs

On Oct. 2, the National Drought Mitigation Center (NDMC) published a new experimental CDI. This new iteration of the “objective blend” composite drought indicators uses machine learning techniques and new metadata inputs to help authors make decisions about the U.S. Drought Monitor.

September 26, 2023

OWWLS expands to cover the entire U.S., Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands

An expanded map of weather station locations broadens efforts to bring more transparency to the U.S. Drought Monitor decision-making process, including highlighting coverage gaps in station-based data. The OWWLS website helps answer the frequently asked question of which stations are used in the USDM process.

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