Great question! A couple things: the USDM uses a & #39;convergence of evidence& #39;, incorporating data from all timescales onto a single map. It& #39;s also (at the moment) a comparison between conditions now and other mid-Aprils historically. 1/ https://twitter.com/StevenMFolse/status/1385293901896962048">https://twitter.com/StevenMFo...

So yes, on long timescales (like 5 yrs), this would point to a much worse situation over Denver than shown on the map. In contrast, shorter timescales are wetter than normal, and the USDM ends up showing somewhere in between. 2/

Impacts vary over time - what happens over years matters for water resources, but crops care about moisture in the short term. And it& #39;s not easy to illustrate all of this on a single map - definitely one of the challenges of the USDM process. See more at: https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/About/WhatistheUSDM.aspx">https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/About/Wha...