Lessons Learned from the 2017 Flash Drought across the U.S. Northern Great Plains and Canadian Prairies

Details

• Journal Title:
  Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society
• Personal Author:
  Hoell, Andrew ; Parker, Britt-Anne ; Downey, Michael ; Umphlett, Natalie ; Jencso, Kelsey ; Akyuz, F. Adnan ; Peck, Dannele ; Hadwen, Trevor ; Fuchs, Brian ; Kluck, Doug ; Edwards, Laura ; Perlwitz, Judith ; Eischeid, Jon ; Deheza, Veva ; Pulwarty, Roger ; Bevington, Kathryn
• NOAA Program & Office:
  OAR (Oceanic and Atmospheric Research) ; PSL (Physical Sciences Laboratory) ; CPO (Climate Program Office) ; NESDIS (National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service) ; NCEI (National Centers for Environmental Information) ; CIRES (Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences)
• Description:
  The 2017 flash drought arrived without early warning and devastated the U.S. northern Great Plains region comprising Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota and the adjacent Canadian Prairies. The drought led to agricultural production losses exceeding $2.6 billion in the United States, widespread wildfires, poor air quality, damaged ecosystems, and degraded mental health. These effects motivated a multiagency collaboration among academic, tribal, state, and federal partners to evaluate drought early warning systems, coordination efforts, communication, and management practices with the goal of improving resilience and response to future droughts. This essay provides an overview on the causes, predictability, and historical context of the drought, the impacts of the drought, opportunities for drought early warning, and an inventory of lessons learned. Key lessons learned include the following: 1) building partnerships during nondrought periods helps ensure that proper relationships are in place for a coordinated and effective drought response; 2) drought information providers must improve their understanding of the annual decision cycles of all relevant sectors, including, and beyond, direct impacts in agricultural sectors; and 3) ongoing monitoring of environmental conditions is vital to drought early warning, given that seasonal forecasts lack skill over the northern Great Plains.
• Keywords:
  Agriculture Drought
• Source:
  Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 101(12), E2171-E2185.
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-19-0272.1
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Canada ; United States
• Rights Information:
  Other
• Compliance:
  Submitted
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:3e0e18940cc5cba62668a3b33d2ca763e2dcf3c30211ebbdc240ddf0f93f2e6a
• Download URL:
  https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/31113/noaa_31113_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 2.14 MB ]