+Indicator Methodology
To calculate the Maximum Number of Consecutive Weeks a County was in Drought by Year using the USDM (https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/About/WhatistheUSDM.aspx#:~:text=What%20is%20the%20USDM%20%20%20%20,6%20to%2010%20%202%20more%20rows%20 ), the process starts by reviewing weekly drought data for each year. The goal is to identify continuous stretches where the county experienced moderate drought or worse, marked as D1 or higher on the USDM scale. The length of each consecutive drought period is noted, and the longest sequence is determined. This number represents the maximum consecutive weeks the county was in drought during that year.