Drought impact reporting in the United States: Giving the Drought Impact Reporter a face lift

To better understand and monitor drought now and under a changing climate, we need to improve our understanding of how drought impacts the environment, society and our economy. Our vulnerability to drought is increasing and we need to establish a baseline for impacts. By doing so, we can better target areas where we are vulnerable, or more at risk to drought. The National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS) calls for the development of better drought monitoring, assessment, and prediction and also refers specifically to a need for better drought impact reporting and documentation. The Drought Impact Reporter (DIR) (droughtreporter.unl.edu) is featured prominently on NIDIS's drought portal (drought.gov).

The Drought Impact Reporter helps policy makers, resource managers and decision-makers in many circumstances visualize the areas affected by drought. The National Drought Mitigation Center (NDMC) developed the DIR with sponsorship from the USDA-Risk Management Agency and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. It first became operational in July 2005. The DIR maps states and counties where people are reporting the effects of drought. Right now, media stories are the main source of reports. Moderators cull impacts from the hundreds of news stories a week that are generated by an automatic clipping service. Now, based on more than two years of operational experience and user input, the Drought Impact Reporter is undergoing substantial refinement, with a new look and new functionality due to come on-line in summer 2008.

DIR 2.0 will use a considerably more sophisticated, fully searchable database. The new system will distinguish between “reports” and “impacts,” capturing early indicators of drought reflected by media, such as awareness and anxiety, before quantifiable losses are incurred. Systematic sampling of media outlets will provide a way to benchmark baseline drought awareness. Impacts can be based on multiple, attributed sources, and could include a combination of media stories, user reports, and government data. The new system will be well-equipped to handle input from a variety of networks as well as individual users. The NDMC is currently working with Arizona and Hawaii to develop ways to combine their local impact gathering with our nation-wide reporting system. We are also undertaking discussions with CoCoRaHS (www.cocorahs.org) to connect their network of 9,000+ (and growing) weather observers to the Drought Impact Reporter.