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US Drought Monitor (USDM) Data

New drought data from the CDC's National Environmental Public Health Tracking Network is now available in mySidewalk, built on the U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM).

New drought data from the CDC's National Environmental Public Health Tracking Network is now available in mySidewalk, built on the U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM). It covers every county and state, yearly from 2000 through 2021, so you can put more than two decades of local drought history in context.

What's new

For each county (with state averages for comparison), three ways to measure drought, each broken out by severity:

  • Weeks in Drought — how many weeks a year the county was in moderate, severe, extreme, or exceptional drought
  • Percent of Weeks in Drought — how much of the year drought conditions persisted
  • Maximum Consecutive Weeks in Drought — the longest unbroken stretch of drought at each severity level

Together they answer the questions that matter for planning: How often does drought affect us? How bad does it get? And how long does it hang on?

Understanding severity levels

The U.S. Drought Monitor classifies drought from moderate to severe, extreme, and exceptional. Each measure is available for individual severity levels and as "or greater" rollups (for example, weeks in severe drought or greater), so you can track both everyday dry spells and the rare, high-impact events.

Where you can use it

This data is available at the county and state levels. Because it's built from the U.S. Drought Monitor's county classifications, it can't be apportioned to custom geographies.

Put it to work with Sidekick

Ask Sidekick about your community — the same way you'd ask a colleague:

  • "Tell me the story of drought in [your county] over the last 20 years."
  • "What are the biggest environmental risks facing [your county]?"
  • "Is [your county] becoming more vulnerable to extreme weather?"
  • "What environmental conditions could be affecting the health of people in [your county]?"
  • "What environmental conditions could be affecting the economy of [your county]?"
  • "Give me data I can use to describe [your county's] climate resilience."
  • "How does [your county's] drought story compare with other counties in the state?"

Whether you're building a hazard mitigation plan, a climate resilience assessment, or talking points for your next public meeting, the data is ready when you are.

Log in and explore the drought data ➡️