United States requires new drought assessment framework amid climate shifts

A report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine states that the United States requires a new drought assessment framework to address increasingly intense and unpredictable drought conditions. The report highlights that climate-driven factors, such as aridification and the Southwest's first multidecadal megadrought, have rendered existing models insufficient because they were built on assumptions of stable climate dynamics.

The proposed framework urges federal agencies, including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), to distinguish between short-term operational needs, such as emergency response, and long-term planning for water management and infrastructure.

In a related development, the National Drought Mitigation Center (NDMC) at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln has entered a new four-year cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service. This agreement aims to provide continued operational support for the U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM), a critical tool used by policymakers and agricultural producers. Since 2008, the USDA has utilized the USDM to trigger over $30 billion in drought relief aid.