(NIDIS; http://www.drought.gov/), is being implemented to help proactively manage drought-related risks by providing those affected with the best available information and tools to assess the potential impacts of drought, and to better prepare for and mitigate the effects of drought. The NIDIS Web por- tal provides access to various drought-monitoring and forecast products, including the U.S. Drought Monitor. Indicators based on climatology enable people to describe drought in a consistent way across different times and places. These indicators combine variables such as precipitation and temperature. The Climate Prediction Center of NOAA provides a similar functionality for monitoring drought conditions (http://www.cpc.noaa.gov/products/forecasts/). The Climate Prediction Center (CPC) is responsible for issuing seasonal climate outlook maps for 1 to 13 months in the future. In addition, the CPC issues extended-range outlook maps for 6–10 and 8–14 days as well as several special outlooks, such as degree day, drought and soil moisture, and a forecast for daily ultraviolet (UV) radiation index. Many of the outlook maps have an accompanying technical discussion. The CPC’s outlook and forecast products complement the short-range weather forecasts issued by other com- ponents of the National Weather Service (e.g., local weather forecast offices and National Centers for Environmental Prediction). As an example, the Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) (Figure 11.5) and Crop Moisture Index (CMI) are indices of the relative dryness or wetness affecting water-sensitive economies. The Palmer Index uses temperature and rainfall information in a formula to determine dryness. It has become the semiofficial drought index. The Palmer Index is most effective in determining long- term drought—a matter of several months—and is not as good with short-term forecasts (a matter of weeks). It uses a 0 as normal, and drought is shown in terms of minus numbers; for example, −2 is moderate drought, −3 is severe drought, and −4 is extreme drought. Tools used in the Drought Outlook (Figure 11.6) include the official CPC long-lead precipitation outlook for November–January 2007/08, the four-month drought termination and amelioration probabilities, various medium- and short-range forecasts, and models such as the 6–10-day and 8–14-day forecasts, the soil-moisture tools based on the Global Forecast System model and the Constructed Analogue on Soil Moisture, and the Climate Forecast System (CFS) monthly precipitation forecasts.