Ernesto Hugo Berbery, University of Maryland College Park, College Park, MD, United States, Ralph R Ferraro, NOAA/NESDIS, College Park, MD, United States, Mitchell Schull, University of Maryland, Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center, College Park, MD, United States, Christopher Hain, National Integrated Drought Information System, Boulder, CO, United States and Eli Dennis, Cooperative Institute for Satellite Earth System Studies, University of Maryland, Department of Atmospheric and Ocean Science, College Park, MD, United States