CISA Integrating Climate Science & Decision Making in the Carolinas

CISA: Carolinas Integrated Sciences and Assessments, A NOAA RISA Team

Support for South Carolina’s Drought Response Program

Disappearing irrigation ponds during the 2002 drought
Disappearing irrigation pond during the 2002 drought.
Courtesy of The State

CISA and the South Carolina State Climatology Office (SC SCO) initiated this project in 2017 with the overarching goal of enhancing the State’s Drought Response Program and improving drought preparedness and response.

Activities

  • Organizing and conducting South Carolina Drought Tabletop Exercises in September 2017 and July 2019.
  • Developing new resources to meet demands from South Carolina Drought Response Committee members, lawmakers, media, and general audiences for drought information. CISA developed content for the scdrought.com website which was launched in May 2018.
  • Updating information in existing drought planning and management documents. CISA developed updated and expanded material for the drought section of the SC Hazard Mitigation Plan, including maps and graphics adapted from the Carolinas Precipitation Patterns & Probabilities Atlas.
  • Assessing approaches to drought response in the Southeast to learn about neighboring states’ drought management strategies and tools.
  • Collecting impacts information to document the effects of drought on South Carolina over the last two decades (1997–2017).

Resources and Related Information

Informational Materials for the 2019 South Carolina Drought Tabletop Exercise

Informational Materials for the 2017 South Carolina Drought Tabletop Exercise

SC Drought Response Information and Resources Developed by CISA