There was a problem with the EDDI product over the northeastern and north-central regions of CONUS from August 1, 2022 to March 1, 2024. During this time, EDDI was indicating extensive and severe dry conditions (ED1-ED4) over much of the region. This was due to an error with the NLDAS-2 variables that drive EDDI. Since July, 2022, the NLDAS-2 forcing data (at NASA GES DISC) was ingesting snow-depth data at an incorrect precision, which was leading to gross overestimates of surface temperatures. This became a problem for EDDI as soon as snow-cover was established during the winter—around October/November, 2022—leading to EDDI showing extensive ED4 (98%ile drought) over much of northern and northeastern CONUS that was not reflected in the US Drought Monitor or in other non-NLDAS-driven products.

Recently, NASA implemented a correction to the NLDAS2 dataset, generating new data from August 1, 2022 forwards. We then corrected our EDDI dataset to use this corrected data and replaced the EDDI data and maps in our archive, which may now be used with confidence for the entire period of record--i.e., from January 1, 1980 to the present.