Monitoring Drought in the United States: Status and Trends - Monitoring and Predicting Agricultural Drought: A Global Study - page 127

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* PgEn

Figure 9.2 U.S. Drought Monitor for May 21, 2002.

The Drought Monitor map classifies droughts on a scale from one to
fo ur (D1-D4; i.e., from least to most intense droughts). D4 is a 1-in-50-
ye ar event. A fifth category, D0, indicates an abnormally dry area either
he ading into drought or recovering from it. The Drought Monitor also
sh ows which sectors are experiencing the dominant or primary impacts,
us ing the labels A (agriculture: crops, livestock, range, or pasture), W (wa-
te r supplies), or F (high risks of fire danger), as shown in figure 9.2. For
ex ample, an area shaded and labeled D2 (A) is in general experiencing se-
ve re drought conditions that are affecting the agricultural sector more sig-
ni ficantly than the water supply sector. The area is not seeing a heightened
fir e risk in association with this dryness. An area shaded as D2 with no A,
W , or F would be experiencing impacts in all three sectors. The final map
su mmarizes all of this information in an easy-to-read format that shows
w here drought is emerging, lingering, or subsiding.
This map product has been widely accepted and is used by a diverse
se t of users to track drought conditions across the country. The users in-
clude agricultural producers; commodity brokers; water and natural re-
source managers; congressional delegations; local, state, and federal agen-
cies; and mainstream media. The number of hits on the Drought Mon-
itor Web site increased from 1.75 million in 2000 to more than 5 mil-
lion in 2002, exceeding our greatest expectations. The Drought Mon-
itor has already become an essential component of the United States's

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