Water Stress & Drought
Water Stress Card Explained
The Water Stress card summarizes national drought severity and trend, with streamflow context treated as supplemental where available.
Quick read
- Useful for
- Drought and low streamflow can affect agriculture, wildfire risk, reservoir stress, municipal restrictions, ecosystems, and power/fuel operations.
- Watch
- current read, why it matters, main driver, Moderate or worse, Severe or worse, Extreme or worse, Exceptional drought, trend, streamflow, data timing, and snapshot age.
- Confirm with
- U.S. Drought Monitor and USGS Water Data
- Remember
- Weekly drought maps are not real-time local water restrictions and streamflow is supplemental in the current dashboard logic.
How to read this card
- Status: compact drought-stress label from the water snapshot.
- Metric line: usually the main drought coverage/trend phrase.
- Current read: plain-English headline from the water snapshot.
- Main driver: the hover card currently emphasizes severe-or-worse drought coverage nationally.
- Snapshot: cache age for the HazardNow water snapshot.
Hover card metrics explained
- Moderate or worse: U.S. area in D1-D4 drought categories.
- Severe or worse: U.S. area in D2-D4; this is the current main driver in the hover text.
- Extreme or worse: U.S. area in D3-D4.
- Exceptional drought: U.S. area in D4, the highest U.S. Drought Monitor category.
- Trend: improving, steady, worsening, or unknown depending on recent drought change logic.
- Streamflow: USGS-like low-flow context when available; displayed as supplemental and not currently part of the score.
- Data timing: U.S. Drought Monitor updates weekly; streamflow can update more often where available.
What can make this status change?
- D2-D4 drought coverage increases or decreases.
- Exceptional or extreme drought expands into more area.
- A new weekly U.S. Drought Monitor release changes category coverage.
- Streamflow context becomes available/unavailable, affecting supplemental interpretation rather than the main score.
Limitations
National drought percentages can hide local differences. Water restrictions, reservoir levels, and well conditions are local and may not match a national card.
Sources and update behavior
USDM is weekly and should not be read as live. USGS streamflow context may be more frequent but is currently supplemental in the dashboard.
Visual reference
Water stress signal map
Read the signal as one layer in a larger source stack, not as a standalone instruction.
Official/public sources
Use these links to verify current source text, update timing, and agency caveats.
FAQ
Is streamflow part of the score?
The hover card says streamflow is supplemental only in the current implementation; the drought severity/trend is the main score driver.