Who makes the Map?

The U.S. Drought Monitor is produced through a partnership between the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska‐Lincoln, the United States Department of Agriculture, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. One author from the National Drought Mitigation Center, the United States Department of Agriculture, the Desert Research Institute, and NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center or National Centers for Environmental Information assumes responsibility for preparing the map and the accompanying narrative. Each author generally works a 2 week shift and then responsibilities are assigned to the next author. With each author rotation, the previous author informs the current author about ”hot spots” where conditions have been getting progressively worse, or better, but they have not yet tipped the USDM into a more, or less, severe category in the previous week’s report. The transition conversation between authors serves as a way to prioritize the development of the map by focusing first on obvious changes. To be an author, individuals must work at a regional or national center.