Current Conditions
Drought conditions across the West have had a substantial impact on storage levels for many of Reclamation’s reservoirs. The sections below provide current information about reservoir storage for select Reclamation reservoirs, drought conditions, drivers of drought, and run-off and water supply.
Current Reservoir Conditions
This reservoir map is available for any date from 1990 to present at the Reservoir Conditions location on RISE.
The interactive Reservoir Storage Dashboard (for selected Reclamation reservoirs), provides current conditions for 54 major Reclamation reservoirs and comparisons with historical storage data. In addition, the reservoir map shows current storage at selected Reclamation reservoirs.
Current Drought
Drought can be defined a variety of ways, often tailored to a particular sector or field. Differences between methods include what conditions to consider and thresholds for defining drought or level of drought. Most approaches share a common concept of comparing recent observed conditions with what’s normal. Examples of data that may be considered include precipitation, soil moisture and crop conditions, snowpack, surface water, and groundwater. The US Drought Monitor (USDM) relies on experts to synthesize the best available data, working with local observers to interpret the information and delineate drought conditions across the United States, ranging from no drought to D4 (exceptional drought).
This map shows the most recent Drought Monitor and statistics regarding the extent of drought conditions currently and at several other points in time over the past year.
Explore current conditions at:
Drivers of Drought
Temperature and Precipitation
Recent drought has often been driven in large part by persistent above average temperatures and below average precipitation across much of the West. Maps on the left from NOAA’s Western Regional Climate Center show how average temperatures for this water year (top) and for the past 36 months (bottom) compare to the historical average. The percent of average precipitation for the current water year (top) and past 36 months (bottom) are shown in the maps to the right.
Temperature anomalies (degrees F) for this water year.
Precipitation anomalies as percent of average for this water year.
Temperature anomalies (degrees F) for past 36 months.
Precipitation anomalies as percent of average for past 36 months.
Soil Moisture
Soil moisture conditions are both an indicator and driver of current drought conditions. Below average soil moisture is often a harbinger for lower spring runoff because a higher-than-normal proportion of precipitation and snowmelt go to replenish soil moisture rather than resulting in streamflow (see image at right).
Soil moisture percentiles for the last 30 days, based on data from the North American Land Data Assimilation System (NLDAS).
Attribution: Image courtesy of NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center (CPC).
Run-off and Water Supply
The map at right shows water supply forecasts (typically April-July or April-September) from NOAA River Forecast Centers. Snowpack is a key input to water supply forecasts and peak snow accumulation is typically reached in early April. For detailed snow conditions information, see data from the NRCS Water Climate Center here.
Attribution: Image courtesy of NOAA Colorado Basin River Forecast Center (CBRFC)
Addressing Drought
Across the West