U.S. River Conditions From January to June 2019 Data Visualization

This is an animation showing the changing conditions of USGS streamgages from January 1, 2019 to June 1, 2019. The conditions shown range from the driest condition seen at a gage (red open circles) to the wettest (blue closed circles). There is also a purple ring added to indicate gages that are flooding. During the animation, three locations in TN broke record water levels near the end of February, flooding from record rains isolated two CA towns along the Russian River at the end of February, Spencer Dam on the Niobrara River in NE failed in March, a 'rainbomb' on top of frozen soil in addition to rapid snowmelt resulted in widespread flooding in the Midwest during March and April, the WI River near the city of Wisconsin Rapids broke a 1938 record streamflow on April 19, 2019, and continued wet conditions in the Midwest cause rivers to approach records set during the Great Mississippi and Missouri Rivers Flood of 1993.

Note that both USGS gage height and National Weather Service flood stage levels are necessary to determine flooding conditions and were available for 38% of streamgages at the time this graphic was produced. Only publicly available data from the National Water Information System Website was used and some gages are missing gage height even when they have flow.