Joel Lisonbee
Regional Drought Information Systems Coordinator
- PhD, Applied Climatology, University of Southern Queensland, 2022
- MS, Atmospheric Sciences, University of Utah, December 2010
- BS, Meteorology, University of Utah, May 2008
- AS, General Education, Salt Lake Community College, December 2004
Research Interests
Joel Lisonbee is a Regional Drought Information Coordinator with the National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS), and is the program point of contact for the Southern Plains Drought Early Warning Systems (DEWS). The Regional Drought Information Coordinators with NIDIS strengthen integrated systems for drought monitoring, forecasting, and planning and preparedness jointly with federal agency partners, tribes, states, municipalities, academic institutions, and other organizations. Joel's goal is to provide the right weather and climate information that can mitigate risk and add measurable value.
Current Research
How do we know if we are getting better or worse at preparing for and responding to drought? Part of the solution is to assess drought severeity and impacts so when the next drought comes along you have a baseline to compare it to. The Southern Plains has been in drought since 2020 and I recently finished an assessment of that drought from 2020-2025. The full report can be accessed here: Southern Plains Drought Assessment 2020-2025 | Drought.gov
How should drought be defined in places where the basline for temperature and preciptaion extremes are changing? Other recent reserach has tried to get to the bottom of this question. In March, 2025, I led a paper in Earth's Future outlining the research priorities needed to better undersatnd drought in a changing climate. Before that I was part of a NOAA Technichal Report on the same topic, and a literature review asking how have reserachers defined drought in the past.
Research Categories
Atmosphere, Climate and Weather, Science Policy, Water Resourcesto
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About CECA
CECA connects and creates a supportive environment for graduate students and postdocs who come from various academic units to do research in CIRES.