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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 Weather 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
Abstract
Drought in the Southern United States can be brief and intense or long and devastating. Vulnerability arises from the marginally adequate precipitation under normal conditions and the large swings in precipitation on an interannual basis. ENSO is a primary factor contributing to large precipitation variability, with average precipitation during the cool season differing by a factor of two between El Niño and La Niña. Departures from normal precipitation are most predictable during the cool season, a time of recharge and replenishment before summer evaporation takes over. With drought having recently reached near-record extent across the southern United States, the current El Niño provides well-grounded hope for drought relief. Summertime precipitation lacks predictability, however. The worst multi-year drought on record for Texas was in the 1950s, when La Niñas were common and the only El Niño failed to deliver.
Biography
John Nielsen-Gammon is a Regents Professor in the Department of Atmospheric Sciences at Texas A&M University, the Texas State Climatologist, and the Director of the Southern Regional Climate Center. He holds S.B., S.M., and Ph.D. degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is a Fellow of the American Meteorological Society and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He has been a faculty member at Texas A&M University since 1991 and has served as the Texas State Climatologist since 2000. Dr. Nielsen-Gammon is an Editor of the Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology. His recent research activities have focused on extreme weather in Texas and their relationship to climate change. He recently served as Co-Chair of the Predictions, Predictability, and Applications Interface Panel for the US CLIVAR program and as President of the American Association of State Climatologists.
Upcoming Schedule
The following are the planned drought seminars. Times, dates, and presenters subject to change.
| Date/Time | Presenter | Affiliation | Presentation Topic/Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| November 9, 2026 • 1pm ET | John Nielsen-Gammon | Texas A&M University • Southern Regional Climate Center | El Niño and drought in the U.S. Southern Region |
| December 16, 2026 • 1pm ET | Randal Koster | NASA/GSFC Global Modeling and Assimilation Office, Retired | Flash Drought and Hydrological Prediction |
Past seminars
| Date | Presenter | Affiliation | Presentation Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| October 19, 2026 | Amir AghaKouchak | University of California, Irvine | From Hazards to Consequences: Toward Impact-Based Drought Monitoring and Prediction Recording |
| September 28, 2026 | Michael Anderson | State of California - Department of Water Resources | Drought, El Niño, and California Recording |
| August 10, 2026 | Tim Brown | Desert Research Institute; Western Regional Climate Center | Exploring Drought and Wildfire Recording |
| July 13, 2026 | Jeffrey Basara | Department of Environmental, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at University of Massachusetts Lowell | The Ever-Present and Growing Threat of Flash Drought in an Accelerating Hydroclimate Recording |
| June 8, 2026 | Dan McEvoy | Desert Research Institute and Western Regional Climate Center | Progress and Challenges on Understanding Snow Droughts in the Western United States. Recording |
| May 11, 2026 | 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. Recording |
| 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. Recording |
- Seminar Organizers
- Andrew Hoell, Research Meteorologist, NOAA/OAR Physical Sciences Laboratory
- Hailan Wang, Meteorologist, NOAA National Weather Service Weather Prediction Center
- Veva Deheza, Executive Director, NOAA/OAR/CPO National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS)
