On the utility of in situ soil moisture observations for flash drought early warning in Oklahoma, USA

Drought early warning systems are a vital component of drought monitoring and require information at submonthly time scales because of the rapidly evolving nature of drought. This study evaluates the utility of in situ soil moisture observations for drought early warning in Oklahoma. Soil moisture was used to identify drought events, and the results were compared with the U.S. Drought Monitor with respect to the identification of drought onset. Soil moisture observations consistently identify rapid‐onset (flash) drought events earlier than the U.S. Drought Monitor. Our results show that soil moisture percentiles provide a 2–3 week lead time over the U.S. Drought Monitor based on five flash drought events that occurred in Oklahoma between 2000 and 2013. We conclude that in situ soil moisture observations are an important source of information for early warning of flash drought events in the Oklahoma.