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NOAA Drought Seminar Series
The NOAA Drought Seminar Series is a recurring monthly event dedicated to drought monitoring, prediction, and predictability. The seminar's primary objective is to establish a focused platform where national drought research, operational, and user communities can exchange the latest tools, research findings, and risk reduction activities.
A collaborative effort between NOAA Research's Physical Sciences Laboratory, the National Integrated Drought Information System, and the National Weather Service's Climate Prediction Center, this series aims to enhance NOAA's capability to monitor, predict, and understand drought behavior.
Drought is a key part of NOAA Research's science priorities aimed at confronting the challenges of a changing planet. It also is a key focus of National Weather Service operational forecast products and services, supporting stakeholder decision-making and reducing drought-related costs and impacts.
Each session will feature a speaker presentation, a question and answer period with the presenter, and general updates on activities within the drought science and services community.
The NOAA Drought Seminar series is generally held on the first or second Monday of each month at 1pm Eastern Time (UTC -4). Days and times may differ pending speaker availability.
Next seminar
Upcoming Schedule
The following are the planned drought seminars. Times, dates, and presenters subject to change.
| Date/Time | Presenter | Affiliation | Presentation Topic/Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 11, 2026 • 1pm ET | Jon Gottschalck | Operational Prediction Branch, NOAA Climate Prediction Center (CPC) | CPC operational drought services: Overview of monitoring and prediction products, outlook verification, Impact-Based Decision Support Services (IDSS) activities and ongoing developmental efforts |
| June 8, 2026 • 1pm ET | Daniel McEvoy | Western Regional Climate Center | Progress and Challenges on Understanding Snow Droughts in the Western United States |
| July 13, 2026 • 1pm ET | Jeffrey Basara | Professor and Department Chair, Environmental, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at UMass Lowell | Flash drought monitoring, mechanisms, and predictability |
Past seminars
| Date | Presenter | Affiliation | Presentation Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| April 13, 2026 | Richard Seager | Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University | Pathways of ongoing aridification in southwest North America: Linkages across seasons in the ocean-atmosphere-land system. More info |