Updating the Drought Blog

This repository contains the workflow used to generate the Swiss drought monitoring blog and its associated figures.

Update Workflow

1. Download the latest MeteoSwiss data

Run:

analysis/download_meteoswiss_data.R

This script downloads and updates the meteorological datasets used throughout the analysis.

2. Recalculate the climatic water deficit metrics

Run:

R/01_calc_pcwd.R

This script computes the precipitation minus potential evapotranspiration metrics and updates the corresponding figures.

3. Update the swissEO vegetation health analysis

Run:

R/02_swissEOVHI.R

This script downloads the latest available swissEO Vegetation Health Index (VHI) data, processes the data for the Bern region, and generates updated vegetation stress figures.

4. Review and update the blog content

Open:

vignettes/drought_2026.qmd

The newly generated figures are automatically referenced in the document. Review all updated plots and adjust the text and interpretation where necessary to reflect current drought conditions.

5. Render the blog

Render the Quarto document:

quarto render vignettes/drought_2026.qmd

or from R:

quarto::quarto_render("vignettes/drought_2026.qmd")

The rendered blog will be written to the vignettes/ folder.

Typical pipeline

For a regular drought update:

1. Run analysis/download_meteoswiss_data.R
2. Run R/01_calc_pcwd.R
3. Run R/02_swissEOVHI.R
4. Review figures in vignettes/drought_2026.qmd
5. Update the written interpretation
6. Render the Quarto document
7. Commit and push the updated figures and blog post