This script relies heavily upon the Drought Monitor at UNL. The top two maps have configurable defaults, the topmost map for the primary state of interest and the next map for the region of interest. These two maps have mouseover tables that access all state and regional maps in addition to the national map. You could use your editor's Search and Replace to search for 'mouseover' and replace all instances with 'onclick'(no apostrophes), but clicking with so many available maps soon grows tedious. That's why the links are currently set to 'mouseover'.
The remaining four maps include the 'Drought Tendency', 'Palmer Index', 'Crop Moisture', and 'Precipitation Needed to End Drought'. The 'Drought Tendency' map is clickable to display the full size map in a new tab. There is a also link at the bottom of the page to the Weekly Weather and Crop Bulletin PDF.
This script was created by Steve at Dacula Weather, and has been modified by me. (I can no longer find it on Steve's site.)
There are three settings, the first determines page width, the second sets the default state map, and the third sets the default region. The default width of 680 works well for a Saratoga template, while 800 works well for dropdown pages of that width. To set your region, just uncomment the desired default region while commenting out the current default region, and to set your state enter the two letter abbreviation for the desired default state map.
You might prefer the
simpler SaratogaWx Page, but this one has a more national flavor. You can view it
here.
Edit 2013 July 11: The updated script in 'wxdrought_maps2.zip' will clear the browser cache upon loading. I've noticed that I've had to manually clear the cache in order to see the new data each Thursday. This version should eliminate that problem.
Edit2 2013 July 11: I've also included an updated version with Alaska and Hawaii state maps, 'wxdrought_maps-ak-hi.zip'. This version allows selection the US as the 'region' to accomodate those areas.
Edit 2013 October 31: The UNL Drought Monitor has changed their map names and url's. The old versions are now obsolete and display maps only through 22 Oct 2013. The new version 3 contains the updated map url's. Please replace your old version with this new one.
Edit2 2013 October 31: Version 3a contains a new Monthly Drought Tendency Map and all maps with larger native image sizes now have live links to open the full-size map in a new tab.
Edit 2013 November 11: Version 3b moves inline styles to an internal style. This allows customizing hyperlink text colors in one place so your site's normal hyperlink color can be optionally restored. No functional change was made in this version.
Edit 2013 December 27: Added the Animations Package, wxdroughtmongif12.zip, that can display all current and past animations.
Edit 2014 April 10: Modified the Animations Package to include the current year once the Twelve Week Animation's coverage becomes insufficient. This is in the 'wxdroughtmongif12a.zip' package which is otherwise unchanged.
Edit 2017 October 16: Removed attached outdated zip files. The script(s) can be gotten by using
these links. Right-click on the source and 'Save as' not a 'txt' file but a 'php' file.