The Canadian Drought Monitor (CDM) brings together Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada's drought monitoring capabilities and collaboration with external agencies (federal and provincial) to produce, through analysis and consolidation of multiple indices and indicators, an easily understood comprehensive national drought severity map and report each month. The monitor provides specific details on agricultural impacts of the current drought situation, including statistics on land area, cattle, and the number of producers impacted.

The Canadian Drought Monitors are based on a five class system ranking the severity of the drought condition. The Monitor map identifies general drought areas, labelling droughts by intensity, with D1 being the least intense and D4 being the most intense. The classifications are as follows: D0 (Abnormally Dry) - represents an event that occurs once every 3-5 years; D1 (Moderate Drought) - represents an event that occurs every 5-10 years; D2 (Severe Drought) - represents an event that occurs every 10-20 years; D3 (Extreme Drought) - represents an event that occurs every 20-25 years; and D4 (Exceptional Drought) - represents an event that occurs every 50 years.

D0 is not recognized as a drought classification; however, it provides a warning of areas

that are currently vulnerable to drought or areas that are recovering from drought. For more information visit: https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/292646cd-619f-4200-afb1-8b2c52f984a2