WYOMING — According to the U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM), Teton County is still experiencing moderate to severe drought in some areas as of April 13, despite heavy snowfall this winter and persistent deep snowpack.
The U.S. Drought Monitor is produced through a partnership between the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the United States Department of Agriculture and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
According to the USDM, an estimated 11,709 people are currently living in an area in Teton County experiencing drought conditions. A majority of the southeastern portion of the county is under D2 intensity, meaning severe drought, while north of that in the Jackson Hole / Grand Teton National Park area there are D1 and D0 conditions, moderate drought and abnormally dry conditions, respectively.
UW Extension is providing monthly webinars with updates on Wyoming drought conditions and predictions. Webinars typically occur on the third Thursday of each month from 1 to 2 p.m. Webinar recordings and downloadable PDFs of the presentations are available here.
“We start with current conditions to help the audience understand why the U.S. Drought Monitor looks the way it does and then transition into discussing outlooks,” says Windy Kelley, regional extension program coordinator for USDA Northern Plains Climate Hub and the University of Wyoming Extension weather variability and agricultural resiliency specialist.
The next Wyoming Conditions and Outlooks webinar is scheduled for Thursday, April 20, at 1 p.m. Anyone can register here.
