PALMER DROUGHT INDEX

Domain	Definition
Agriculture	A measure of the severity of prolonged periods (months or years) of abnormal dryness or wetness over large regions, published periodically by the Joint Agricultural Weather Facility. The Palmer Index has long been used by the agriculture community to anticipate the potential effects of weather on crop development and yield. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Specialty Definition: Palmer Drought Index

The Palmer Drought Index, sometimes called the Palmer Drought Severity Index, is an often-used measurement of dryness based on recent precipitation and temperature.

It was developed by meteorologist Wayne Palmer, who first published his method in the 1965 paper Meteorological Drought for the Office of Climatology of the U.S. Weather Bureau.

The Palmer Drought Index is based on a supply-and-demand model of soil moisture. Supply is comparatively straightforward to calculate, but demand is more complicated as it depends on many factors - not just temperature and the amount of moisture in the soil but hard-to-calibrate factors including evapotranspiration and recharge rates.

The index has proved most effective in determining long-term drought — a matter of several months — and not as good with forecasts over a matter of weeks. It uses a 0 as normal, and drought is shown in terms of minus numbers; for example, minus 2 is moderate drought, minus 3 is severe drought, and minus 4 is extreme drought.

Commercial Usage: PALMER DROUGHT INDEX

Domain	Title
Periodicals	Palmer Drought Index Map For Three Prairie Province (reference) (more periodical examples)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Anagrams: PALMER DROUGHT INDEX

Scrabble® YAWL-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "a-d-d-e-e-g-h-i-l-m-n-o-p-r-r-t-u-x"
	-5 letters: dephlegmation.
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