Drought status is often represented by maps of how much precipitation has fallen in the year to date, or how that amount differs from normal amounts of precipitation to date. Up-to-date examples of such maps are presented below:

A somewhat different viewpoint on the development of drought considers how much precipitation has fallen (or not) and how much is likely to fall in coming months, based on climatology. The following are maps of this and previous years’ drought development that explicitly takes both of these aspects into account.