Drought Returns to the Pacific Northwest
In the August 2018 Climate Currents for the CIRCulator, John Abatzoglou shows that "Drought is back in the Pacific Northwest". He explains that there are many forms of drought and uses a new tool, the U.S. Water Watcher, to show current drought conditions in some of the different forms (or flavors). From the US Water Watcher, he shows a panel of four maps of current precipitation, streamflow, soil moisture and the energy release component to look at meteorological, hydrological, agricultural and ecological drought, respectively. He also looks at current dry vegetation conditions over the Pacific Northwest and where current fires are with maps from the Climate Toolbox's 'Climate Mapper' tool.