U.S. River Conditions, January to March 2025

This is an animation showing the changing conditions relative to the historic record of USGS streamgages from January 1, 2025 to March 31, 2025. 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.   

In January, low flows were observed in parts of the Northeast and Pacific Northwest, for states such as New York and Washington, respectively. These conditions continued into the end of the month, with dry conditions persisting in both regions. 

In February, a series of atmospheric rivers brought high water to California. During this same period, parts of the East experienced flooding for states such as Kentucky, West Virginia and Virginia . Later in the month, atmospheric rivers shifted north, bringing high water to the Pacific Northwest through early March. 

By mid-March, another round of atmospheric river activity impacted the Northwest for states such as Oregon and Washington. Meanwhile, drought conditions expanded across the Southwest throughout February and March for states such as Arizona and New Mexico.  

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/).