U.S. River Conditions, April to June 2021

This is an animation showing the changing conditions of USGS streamgages from April 1, 2021 to June 30, 2021. 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 indicates it is flooding.

In April, drought conditions spread throughout the Western U.S., stretching from Western Texas to Idaho. In contrast, the Gulf Coast experienced flooding from mid-April to early May. Continued dry conditions worsened the drought in California during May and June. From mid-May to mid-June, the South-Central U.S. (Eastern Texas and Louisiana up to Kansas and Missouri) experienced wet conditions and flooding. Dry conditions spread across the Northeastern U.S. starting at the end of May with drought conditions continuing to the end of June. Tropical Storm Claudette moved over the Southeastern U.S. between June 17 and June 22 bringing wet conditions and flooding to the Gulf Coast. With the Northeast and Western U.S. still experiencing drought, Midwestern states saw flooding in the final days of June.

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.