Nevada’s Drought Outlook From the NOAA
There’s been plenty of talk about droughts across the U.S. lately, and that has really come to a head with the California fires. Nobody likes drought conditions, but they’re a reality, and it’s best to know when one is on the way or going to persist. Now, the long-range forecasters at NOAA have released their drought forecast for the spring, and it gives us a snapshot of what to expect from the coming months. This particular forecast goes beyond precipitation to a special “change in drought” forecast which depicts large-scale trends across the country.
Drought Forecast for Nevada
So, what is a drought? It’s when a place has “less precipitation (rain or snow) than normal over a few months or even longer,” according to the National Drought Mitigation Center.
“When some places are in a drought, they may be dry, hot and dusty; cracks may appear in the soil, and rivers, lakes, streams, and other sources of water may go dry,” the National Drought Mitigation Center states. They add that even if places get rain, they could still be in drought conditions if they’re getting less rain than usual.
As for methodology for their drought trends and forecast, the NOAA employs expert climate scientists to look at past data and try to predict what’s ahead.
“Climate scientists base future climate outlooks on current patterns in the ocean and atmosphere,” the NOAA notes of their data and statistics. “They examine projections from climate and weather models and consider recent trends” and “also check historical records to see how much precipitation fell when patterns were similar in the past.”
Looking at Nevada, the lower half of the state is mainly in brown, including Las Vegas, meaning “drought persists.” There’s a little green in the state, too, meaning “drought removal likely,” so that’s a good thing, but most of the state is either brown or doesn’t have a color. The “drought persists” note means, unfortunately, farming could be negatively impacted. Hopefully things turn around in the next projection. The map also shows a general trend towards dryness across the U.S. for spring, so Nevada isn’t alone.