U.S Drought Highlights Since October 2005

1. U.S Drought Highlights Since October 2005 Douglas Le Comte NOAA/CPC 31st Annual Climate Diagnostics and Prediction Workshop October 23-27, 2006

2. Outline • Drought Highlights • Major development in the Southwest last winter • Plains states by summer • Near-record monsoon rains relieve Southwest drought. • Drought Forecasts—How are we doing?

3. The West Flip-Flops Once Again! Recent Cold Season (2005-06) Previous Cold Season (2004-05)

4. October vs April Drought

5. Cold Season Precipitation Driest Dec-Feb in AZ 2nd driest in NM and OK

6. Snow Water Content April 2006 Lessthan 10%!

7. Streamflow Forecasts April 1, 2006

8. Spring-Summer Changes 117 deg. F on 7/15 in Pierre SD NM = wettest Jun-Aug

9. Peak Drought Past 12 Months

10. Corn and Soybean Production Corn Belt did fine again

11. Drought Affected Cotton

12. Major Drought Impacts to Crops in the Plains—Lesser in the Southeast • Durum wheat production dropped 47% from last year (mainly North Dakota drought) • Oat production down 18%--lowest on record! • Barley, down 15%, lowest since 1936! • Hard red winter wheat dropped 27% (mainly Kansas to Texas) • Texas wheat down 65%! (over $200 mil.); sorghum down 26% • Oklahoma sorghum dropped 35%; wheat down 36% • Alabama corn dropped 52% • Corn in Texas and South Dakota dropped 20% • Texas peanuts dropped 43%; upland cotton down 36%

13. Record Modern-Day Fire Season

14. Lake McConaughy NE June 2006 Man standing Water should Be up to the boom

15. Changes to October 17, 2006

16. Global Vegetation ImageOct 15, 2006 Devastating drought

17. The Seasonal Drought Outlooks

18. Selected Good-Performing Drought Outlook Tools • 2-Week Soil Moisture • Ensemble CCA and CAS • UKMET Season • NCDC Palmer Drought Amelioration Probability Maps

19. Better Summer Forecast Tools in 2006

20. How Are We Doing?

21. Latched on to S Plains Drought Early December 2005 and SW Drought mid-Dec

22. Keyed in on N Plains Development early July 2006

23. Time Series of Verification Scores Mean Pct Correct = 51% (was 59% last year) Mean Improvement over Persistence = 14% (was 14%)

24. Seasonal Scores • Forecasts made in NDJ = 63 • FMA = 45 • MJJ = 46 • ASO = 48

25. Verification Scores vs CPC LL Precipitation Outlooks • Correlation of Drought Outlook Scores with HSS for CPC 3-month precipitation outlooks = .33 (34 Outlooks) • When Drought Outlook Scores exceed 60, mean HSS = +5 • When Drought Outlook Scores less than 40, mean HSS = -1 • Better seasonal precipitation forecasts would help! (Mean HSS = +3)

26. Selected Future Improvements • NCEP-CPC-EMC-CTB-NLDAS-NASA collaboration effort to support NIDIS • Collaboration with Univ. of WA and Princeton to improve soil moisture monitoring and forecasting • Improved multi-model seasonal forecasts • Research leading to improved understanding of the underlying causes of drought (e.g., air-sea and ground-air interactions)

27. Parting Wisdom • “Just as in being chased by a bear, when you only need to be faster than the next guy, in forecasting, you don’t have to be right all the time, just better than the competition.” D. Le Comte

28. Potential Water Supplies Off to a Good Start Colorado Front Range Loveland Basin Oct. 22, 2006 Elev. 11900 ft.