Drought conditions in Delaware.

Going into or coming out of drought — short-term dryness slowing planting or growth

Some damage to crops and pasture; streams, reservoirs, or wells running low

Crop or pasture losses likely; water shortages common and restrictions imposed

The U.S. Drought Monitor is an expert analysis, produced jointly by the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, the USDA and NOAA. Each map is valid for a Tuesday and released the following Thursday, so the current map is always a few days behind the weather — rain that falls on a Wednesday appears in next week's release. It is drawn at county-to-regional scale, not for a specific field, well or river reach.

The Drought Monitor's published percentages are CUMULATIVE: each category covers that severity or worse, so the D1 figure already includes every acre in D2, D3 and D4, and the five numbers do not sum to 100. It is the single easiest thing to get wrong about drought data. This page shows the mapped shape and names the categories present in Delaware rather than computing a state share we could not stand behind — the national figures on the main map are the published ones, and they cover the contiguous United States.

The U.S. Drought Monitor — the country’s official weekly drought assessment — drawn across five severity categories from D0 to D4.

Open the U.S. drought map →

Watershed Explorer

Click any point in the country and read what six federal datasets say about it — flow, drought, fire, flood forecast, satellite cyanobacteria screening and Clean Water Act impairment — each one labelled with what it is actually a fact about.

Wildfire & Smoke Map — Delaware

Official NIFC fire perimeters and incident points under NOAA’s HRRR-Smoke near-surface forecast, filterable by size, state, and containment.

Open the national wildfire and smoke map →

Streamflow Map — Delaware

Every reporting USGS stream gauge in the country, coloured by how today’s flow ranks against that gauge’s own record for this calendar day.

Open the national streamflow map →

Flood Outlook Map — Delaware

NOAA’s river forecast centres call the next few days at every forecast gauge in the country, on the National Weather Service’s own flood categories — action, minor, moderate and major.

Open the national flood outlook map →

Impaired Waters Map — Delaware

Every subwatershed in the country against the states’ own Clean Water Act assessments — what is impaired, what is still on the 303(d) list, what is causing it, and how much of the country nobody has assessed at all.

Open the national impaired waters map →

Cyanobacteria Bloom Map — Delaware

NASA and EPA’s satellites read a pigment index over roughly 2,300 U.S. lakes large enough to resolve at 300 m. A pre-screening indicator, not a health assessment, and never a substitute for your state’s advisory.

Open the national cyanobacteria bloom map →

Critical Habitat & Protected Waters Map — Delaware

Every river and stream the federal government has designated as ESA critical habitat, the listed species each unit is designated for, and who manages the protected land around it.

Open the national critical habitat map →