Developed by NOAA’s National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS), the U.S. Drought Portal, or Drought.gov, offers easy-to-use and shareable data, maps, and tools designed to help decision makers assess the potential for drought and better prepare for, mitigate, and respond to the effects of drought.

The U.S. Drought Portal includes:

• Drought conditions down to the city and county level, where you can enter your zip code, city, or county to see current conditions, key indicators of drought, outlooks and forecasts, and historical drought conditions.
• Data & Maps section, where you can get the latest national drought conditions, impacts, and outlooks, as well as drought-related maps for temperature and precipitation, wildfires, snow drought, soil moisture, and more.
• Interactive historical data and maps, including U.S. Drought Monitor data going back to 2000, standardized precipitation index (SPI) data going back to 1895, and paleoclimate data (e.g., from tree-ring analysis) going back to the year 0 for some regions of the U.S.
• By Sector section, which shows drought impacts on different economic sectors, such as agriculture, energy, water utilities, and recreation and tourism.
• Research and Learn section where you can “go back to the basics” on drought with definitions, overviews of different types of drought such as flash drought and snow drought, and learn about initiatives such as the National Coordinated Soil Moisture Monitoring Network.
• Local drought alert emails that deliver up-to-date local drought information right to your inbox. You can sign up for email alerts when U.S. Drought Monitor conditions change for your location, or when there’s a new U.S. Drought Outlook.

The U.S. Drought Portal also provides links to state, regional, tribal and watershed drought resources, upcoming drought webinars and workshops, as well as information on drought planning, education, and research. NIDIS manages Drought.gov in partnership with NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information. 

For questions, send an email to drought.portal@noaa.gov.