The Visual Drought Atlas is a tool that offers comparisons of landscapes over time, showing what different places across the country look like in dry, wet and normal years. To do that, the Atlas utilizes snapshots of current conditions submitted by the public.

No matter the conditions, your input helps. For consistency, we especially encourage submissions over four holidays — Presidents’ Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day and Labor Day — when people may have more time to visit their favorite places. But photo submissions are welcome any time of year. Filling out the Visual Drought Atlas report and submitting a few photos seasonally takes a few minutes and greatly informs the Atlas.

This effort, at the National Drought Mitigation Center (NDMC), is a continuation of a project started by CoCoRaHS and SCIPP.