Interactive Drought Map Learn more Using the NSW-CDI

Using the NSW-CDI

The NSW-CDI is designed to track long term drought events that form periodically in NSW.  These are droughts that are 9-12 months or more in duration affecting large geographic areas.

The interactive NSW-CDI should not be used as the sole source of information to determine eligibility for any drought support or assistance program. For information about NSW Government programs and eligibility explore DroughtHub.

Key features

  1. Detects drought entry early, as Drought Affected.
  2. Tracks drought recovery as Recovery.
  3. Monitors different event intensities as Drought and Intense Drought.
  4. Drought duration is the combined time spent in the Drought Affected, Drought and Intense Drought categories.
  5. The NSW-CDI tracks rainfall effectiveness using a Plant (crop / pasture) Growth Index and a Soil Water Index.

The NSW-CDI can be used to:

  • provide an overall view of seasonal conditions and drought across NSW
  • understand the length of time a region has been in a particular NSW-CDI category
  • provide an overview of the past seasonal conditions using the interactive parish timeseries charts
  • understand and interpret the changes in the underlying drought indicator trends
  • support drought planning and assessment as part of a broader suite of criteria, tools and evidence

It should not be used to:

  • solely determine eligibility for any drought support or assistance program

Things to note:

  • The NSW-CDI only accounts for the interactions of climate on soil water and plant growth. It does not factor in farm management actions, on farm water resources, financial drought impacts, or other economic factors.
  • The NSW-CDI provides a regionalised view of drought conditions across NSW and therefore cannot account for farm-to-farm variability.
  • It provides a generalised assessment for drought conditions, therefore individual farm management practices will not be captured
  • The NSW-CDI does not capture localised influences from impacts such as management strategies, pasture dieback, standing water, or grazing pressure including that from kangaroos or goats.

Drought declarations

The NSW Government does not make official drought declarations. This was part of the National Drought Agreement, which came into effect in 2013.

The NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development monitors seasonal conditions (including drought) using the Combined Drought Indicator (NSW-CDI). Learn more about the Program here.

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