Back to Data Sources
Data Sources

Canadian Drought Monitor: Current Drought-Severity Polygons

The Canadian Drought Monitor publishes monthly drought-severity polygons. Township Canada uses the current month to modify the Productivity Score and flag drought on every parcel.

What it is

The Canadian Drought Monitor, published by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, releases drought-severity polygons every month. It classifies conditions on the standard D0 to D4 scale: D0 abnormally dry, D1 moderate, D2 severe, D3 extreme, and D4 exceptional. Township Canada carries the current month's polygons.

What it carries

Each polygon carries a severity level and label and the month it is valid for. Township Canada intersects it with the quarter section to produce the current drought class shown on the report, and a drought modifier that nudges the Productivity Score down in proportion to severity (D0 leaves the score unchanged; D4 multiplies it by 0.85).

Coverage and refresh

The Drought Monitor is national and refreshes monthly, around the 10th. Our current load carries the latest published month's polygons, typically spanning the milder D0 to D2 classes across the agricultural Prairies, with more severe classes appearing in dry years.

Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence - Canada. Source: Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada - Canadian Drought Monitor.

How Township Canada shows it

Drought powers the Drought overlay and the drought card on the Agriculture tab of the parcel report, and it is the present-condition modifier in the Productivity Score. Two parcels with identical soil can score differently this month if one sits inside a D2 polygon.

Screenshot to add (/images/learn/data-sources/drought-monitor/drought-card.png): the Agriculture tab drought card showing the current class (for example D0 Abnormally Dry) with the valid month.