United States Drought Outlook web service contains Monthly and Seasonal drought outlooks. Monthly and seasonal drought outlooks are long-range outlooks issued by the National Weather Service Climate Prediction Center (CPC) and depict the drought tendency for the next 1-month and 3-month periods, respectively, for the United States, Puerto Rico, and U.S. Virgin Islands. They are used for planning by agricultural, water supply, and fire weather managers, among other stakeholders. CPC drought outlooks use the latest drought designations, as defined by the United States Drought Monitor (https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/), as initial conditions. The Monthly Drought Outlook (MDO) is released on the last day of each month and valid for the next calendar month (e.g., the October 31st release would be valid for the month of November). The initial Seasonal Drought Outlook (SDO) is released on the 3rd Thursday of each month and valid for the remainder of the release month plus the next three calendar months. The SDO "may be" updated at the end of the month, concurrent with the release of the MDO, and valid for the next three calendar months. SDO updates are conditional and serve to highlight and explain any changes in forecast and/or observational data, tools, and information since the initial SDO release (3rd Thursday of each month). SDO updates also serve to ensure consistency between the MDO and SDO.

Link to graphical web page: https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/Drought/

Links to data download (shapefile):

https://ftp.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/GIS/droughtlook/mdo_polygons_latest.zip

https://ftp.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/GIS/droughtlook/sdo_polygons_latest.zip

Link to metadata:

Questions/Concerns about the service,please contact the DISS GIS team

Time Information:

This service is not time enabled.