NOAA and the Western Governors signed a new Memorandum of Understanding on June 9. The purpose of this is to improve the development, coordination and dissemination of drought and extreme weather data, information, and analysis – as well as preparedness and planning tools and innovations – in order to support the resource management decisions of Western states.
Key foci- interrelationship between drought and wildfire to identify the data, information, and analysis needs – as well as management strategies, conduct surveys of the existing state and territory Drought Task Forces appointed by Governors to (a) identify data gaps as well as potentially useful data, information, and analyses and (b) compare and contrast the approaches of the Task Forces, ( c ) explore ways to ensure that collection and sharing of crucial drought, flooding, and extreme weather-related data, impact statistics, and information are improved and sustained.
Focal areas include soil moisture monitoring in the Missouri River Basin and water supply needs assessments, including snowpack monitoring, in the Mountain West and coastal watersheds.
The agreement was signed in a ceremony during the opening day of the 2014 WGA Annual Meeting in Colorado Springs by NOAA Administrator Dr. Kathryn Sullivan and WGA Chairman and Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper.
To read more about the MOU or to download a copy, visit: westgov.org
NOAA and Western Governors sign Memorandum of Understanding
- June 10, 2014
