Documenting and Improving the Consistency of Drought Services in the National Weather Service's Western Region

Drought is an important component of NOAA’s Climate Ready Nation (CRN) initiative to support a thriving nation and economy in a changing climate. The National Weather Service (NWS) plays an important role in supporting drought decision-making at the local, state, and regional level, by providing timely hydroclimatic data and forecast information. NWS’s Western Region serves eight large states, many of which have experienced persistent, severe drought conditions in recent years. An NWS Western Region team, consisting of Weather Forecast Office (WFO) staff as well as regional and national-level program managers, is working to document the services WFOs provide to Western states in times of drought. The team is documenting commonalities in drought services to state offices (such as coordinating state-level inputs to the U.S. Drought Monitor and serving on state drought committees) as well as state-to-state differences in drought decision-making (such as thresholds and procedures for drought declarations). The team is using these inputs to craft WFO drought plans, which will improve the consistency of service between NWS offices, provide new employees with a foundation for providing high-level drought services, and help managers ensure that WFO drought services responsibilities are met. This effort being led by Western Region will eventually be adopted by the rest of the NWS drought program nationwide.