Drought Management: the Role of Near- Real Time Weather Data

Donald A. Wilhite and Kenneth G. Hubbard Center for Agricultural Meteorology and Climatology University of Nebraska Lincoln, Nebraska The ability to collect weather data in near-real time has improved because of technological advances, enabling weather data users to obtain more weather data over wider areas, and in a more timely fashion. The number of near-real time climate networks is increasing as new applications are found for climate data. More than fifteen states in the United States have established automated weather station networks. This paper presents an overview of recent developments in automated weather data collection in the United States and gives a detailed description of the network in Nebraska. Near-real time weather data has many applications in agricultural decision making and in other economic sectors as well. Automated networks such as the one that exists in Nebraska can provide a practical, efficient, and cost-effective way of monitoring drought and assessing its impacts. In the United States, drought monitoring activities have been developed, at times, to support drought planning efforts by state government. Drought planning can be defined as actions taken by government, industry, individual citizens, and others in advance of drought for the purpose of mitigating some of the impacts associated with its occurrence. Planning for drought /i.e., risk management/ has been shown to be more effective than the traditional approach /i.e., crisis management/. Activities associated with drought planning