U.S. River Conditions, January to March 2026

January to March 2026 

This is an animation showing the changing conditions relative to the historic record of USGS streamgages from January 1, 2026 to March 31, 2026. The river conditions shown range from the driest condition seen at a gage (red open circles) to the wettest (blue closed circles). A purple outer ring around a gage indicates it is flooding.    

At the start of January, an atmospheric river brought high water and flooding to California. At the same time, extreme drought conditions persisted in south Texas and continued throughout March. 

In mid-February, another series of atmospheric rivers impacted the western U.S., bringing additional high water. Extreme drought also expanded into Florida beginning in mid-February and persisted through the end of March. 

In March, high water extended from Texas through the Midwest. Additional atmospheric river activity brought minor flooding to the Pacific Northwest. Meanwhile, a “Kona low” brought record flooding in Hawaiʻi in mid-to-late March. Flooding expanded into the Northeast toward the end of the month. 

Note that both USGS gage height and National Weather Service flood stage are necessary to determine flooding conditions. The combination was available for 80% of streamgages at the time this graphic was produced. Only publicly available data from Water Data for the Nation were used (https://waterdata.usgs.gov/).