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10/21/2026

Behind every storm track is a network monitoring water movement in real time. 📡🌊

Hurricane Isaias made landfall near Destin, Florida on October 9, as a Category 2 storm. Tracking inland through Alabama, its remnants brought damaging winds, significant rainfall, flash flooding, and life-threatening storm surge from the Gulf Coast to the southern Appalachians and Mid-Atlantic.

💧 4 to 6 inches of rain, with localized flash flooding fell across the Gulf Coast.

💧 Over 12 inches of rain was reported for Bellwood, Alabama and DeFuniak Springs, Florida.

💧 2-5 inches of rain with nearly 10 inches in localized areas were observed across the Southeastern U.S.

While weather models forecast where the rain will fall, USGS streamgages and hydrologic technicians measure the ground-level impact, giving emergency managers the data they need to make critical safety decisions.

Explore the latest Hurricane Isaias information - https://www.usgs.gov/special-topics/isaias

🎥: Animated map tracking Hurricane Isaias across the Gulf Coast and Southeast U.S. from October 7, 7:00 PM CDT through October 12, 6:00 PM CDT (landfall October 9, 8:30 PM CDT), with hourly rainfall totals, streamgages colored by flood severity, a running count of gages in flood stage, and a stacked bar chart of flood-stage gage counts building over time. Credit: Elmera Azadpour, USGS

Water connects us all - especially in our wildest spaces! 💧 🌿 🦆 🦅 This week is National Wildlife Refuge Week. Managed by...
10/16/2026

Water connects us all - especially in our wildest spaces! 💧 🌿 🦆 🦅

This week is National Wildlife Refuge Week. Managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), the National Wildlife Refuge System is a network of more than 570 national wildlife refuges encompassing more than 800 million acres of public lands and water.

From monitoring streamflow, tracking water quality, and mapping wetlands to studying how changing climates affect habitats, USGS science provides valuable data that FWS uses to conserve and manage these vital sanctuaries.

What’s your favorite National Wildlife Refuge? Tell us in the comments. 👇

📸 1: A USGS Hydrologist filters wetland water to sample for infectious avian influenza in Izembek National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska. Credit: USGS

📸 2: A USGS Hydrologist uses a small unoccupied aircraft system, sUAS or "drone," to collect information about vegetation on Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon in August 2018. Credit: Cian Dawson, USGS

📸 3: A field assistant wades in a wetland while filtering for infectious avian influenza virus at the Roseau River Wildlife Management Area, Roseau, Minnesota. Credit: USGS

📸 4: A sensor is deployed to measure flow in a channel of the marsh in Rachel Carlson National Wildlife Refuge. Credit: Sandy Brosnahan, USGS

📸 5: A U.S. Geological Survey technician collecting water monitoring data at Seal Beach National Wildlife Refuge. Credit: Katharine Lovett, USGS

The vital flow: Understanding water’s essential role in thermoelectric power generation. ⚡️💧 When you get home in the ev...
10/15/2026

The vital flow: Understanding water’s essential role in thermoelectric power generation. ⚡️💧

When you get home in the evening after a long day of work and flip on the lights, you might not think about the intricate systems behind the electricity that powers your home. But the reality is that it takes a lot of science—and water—to deliver the electricity you expect and rely on in your house.

Thermoelectric power plants, which rely heavily on water for their operations, are among the most critical producers of energy in the U.S.

Thermoelectric plants use water in two ways:

⚡️ By heating water into steam to generate electricity

⚡️ By using cooling water to condense the steam back into liquid water for reuse or release

Understanding how much water is used, where, and when is vital to meeting the Nation’s water demand.

💧 In the 2020 water year (October 1, 2019 through September 30, 2020), thermoelectric power generation, public supply, and crop irrigation accounted for about 90% (approximately 224,000 million gallons of water per day) of the freshwater withdrawn daily in the lower 48 states.

💧 Thermoelectric power made up 36% of that volume at about 82,000 million gallons of water a day.

💧 While most of the water used in thermoelectric plants in the U.S. is freshwater, some thermoelectric power plants also use saline water, which reduces the demand for freshwater.

💧 Nearly all (96%) of the freshwater used in thermoelectric power generation is eventually returned, although the rate varies based on the type of cooling system employed by a given plant.

Learn more about how water is used in thermoelectric power generation - https://ow.ly/ZMn950ZXMkm

📷 1: Map of 2020 thermoelectric power water use by watershed (HUC12) across the lower 48 United States and timeseries showing thermoelectric water use withdrawals from 1985 to 2020. Credit: Elmera Azadpour, USGS.

📷 2-3: Power-generating plants use evaporation to cool hot water. Credit: Alan Cressler, USGS.

Geoscience is for everyone because WATER is for everyone! 💧 🌍It’s Earth Science Week and today is Geoscience is for Ever...
10/15/2026

Geoscience is for everyone because WATER is for everyone! 💧 🌍

It’s Earth Science Week and today is Geoscience is for Everyone Day! To celebrate, dive into the complex and interconnected world of our planet's most vital resource.

From industrial and agricultural use to urban runoff and reservoirs, the water cycle describes how water moves from Earth’s surface into the atmosphere, then back to the surface again or to below Earth’s surface.

Geoscience isn't just about rocks - it’s about understanding the environment we live in and impact every day.

Learn more about the key processes of the water cycle and how natural and human interactions influence where water moves, how it's stored, and how clean it is.

🔎 Explore the Where’s the Water series of posters to learn more about water cycle processes - https://ow.ly/j5zS50ZVMOr

📷: Illustrated water cycle diagram components from the Where’s the Water series of posters designed for educators. These posters provide insight into the water cycle in 6 different systems: coast, urban, agriculture, suburban, forest, and desert.

Hurricane Isaias made landfall on late Friday evening as a Category 2 hurricane, then weakened and headed north-northeas...
10/14/2026

Hurricane Isaias made landfall on late Friday evening as a Category 2 hurricane, then weakened and headed north-northeast through Appalachia as a post-tropical cyclone.

Isaias brought damaging winds, heavy rain, flash flooding, power outages, and life-threatening storm surge to the northern Gulf Coast and up along the eastern seaboard.

💧 The Gulf Coast saw 4 to 6 inches of rain through the weekend, with localized flash flooding. The National Weather Service reported over 12 inches for Bellwood, Alabama and DeFuniak Springs, Florida.

💧 The rest of Southeast, including the Southern Appalachians and coastal Carolinas, saw 2 to 5 inches of rain, with localized higher amounts of nearly 10 inches.

USGS hydrologic technicians responded along the entire path of the storm, from Florida up through North Carolina to determine impacts and provide data for local and state agencies.

USGS data informs:

🌊 Local water conditions at streamgages across the country, including comparisons to historical conditions and flood status

🚧 Flood impacts to local infrastructure from bridges to pedestrian walkways, and more

🚨 Landslide risks and impacts

View Real-Time Flood Impacts across the Southeast over the past weekend - https://ow.ly/JZsO50ZXM3C

💡 Did you know: Each point of interest on the map can be selected to learn more about the impacts, link out to the USGS monitoring location page, or create a WaterAlert for that site.

📷 1: USGS hydrologic technicians collect field measurements on Shoal River near Mossy Head, Florida (ID 0268500) during peak flooding conditions.

📷 2: Hydrographs showing continuously measured gage height before, during, and after Hurricane Isaias at streamgages in Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, and Florida. Field measurements are shown as yellow dots on the hydrograph. The gage on Shoal River (ID 02368500) hit a peak of record for that site. Credit: Althea Archer, USGS

📷 3: The Real-Time Flood Impact mapper showing many flooded areas of interest throughout the Southeast from October 9 through October 13, 2026.

Credit: USGS

Tropical Storm Rachel’s impact can be felt across large areas of the southwestern U.S. 💧 In California, precipitation to...
10/13/2026

Tropical Storm Rachel’s impact can be felt across large areas of the southwestern U.S.

💧 In California, precipitation totals in San Diego, Imperial, and Riverside Counties ranged anywhere from 0.75 inches at the coast to a bit over 2 inches in most of the mountainous regions.
💧 In Nevada, 9 streamgages on the main stem of the Las Vegas Wash are recording significant peaks of approximately 8,000 to 10,000 cubic feet per second, marking the largest event in the area since 2023.
💧 In Utah, a streamgage on Big Brush Creek near Vernal (ID 09261700) measured a peak of record for gage height, with several other gages in top 5% peak levels.
💧 In Arizona, a gage on Fossil Creek (ID 09507480) was near an annual peak flow and represents the highest measurement recorded there in years.

USGS has field crews out today making critical field measurements at gages to verify data and document other impacts, such as high-water marks.

See the current status of gages and weather conditions with the National Water Dashboard – https://dashboard.waterdata.usgs.gov/app/nwd/en/

📷 1: Two USGS hydrologic technicians making high flow wading measurements on Muddy River, Glendale, NV (ID 09419000) on October 13, 2026. Credit: Hampton Childres, USGS
📷 2: View of conditions at Fossil Creek near Strawberry, AZ on October 11, 2026. Credit: Kurt Schonauer, USGS.
📷 3: USGS hydrologic technician servicing the crest-stage gage at the Las Vegas Wash Overflow at Lake Las Vegas Inlet (ID 09419756). This area is normally dry and is the inflow to Lake Las Vegas. It only flows during large runoff events. During normal flows, the Las Vegas Wash bypasses Lake Las Vegas through a series of culverts. Credit: Hampton Childres, USGS.
📷 4: Conditions after the storm on Whitewater River near Indio, CA (ID 10259300). Credit: USGS

September streamflow conditions across the U.S. 💧In September, wet conditions persisted across much of the Midwest and e...
10/13/2026

September streamflow conditions across the U.S. 💧

In September, wet conditions persisted across much of the Midwest and eastern U.S., while dry conditions continued across parts of the West and Southeast.

Notable weather patterns included:

🌧 Repeated rounds of heavy rain in mid-September brought flooding to parts of the Midwest and Ohio River Valley, including Indiana, Ohio, and West Virginia.

🌊 A late-September nor'easter brought heavy rain and coastal flooding to the Mid-Atlantic, including New Jersey and Delaware.

💧 The remnants of Hurricane Polo caused localized flooding in parts of Texas and New Mexico.

☔️ Hawaii was in the path of two hurricanes, Hurricane Lowell in early September and Hurricane Nolo in late September.

☀️ Drought conditions persisted across the Southeast, including Georgia and the Carolinas, as well as the Southwest including Colorado and New Mexico.

Explore more water data visualizations: water.usgs.gov/vizlab/

📷: September 2026 streamflow conditions. Tile chart showing national streamflow conditions and streamflow conditions in the U.S. with a tile chart for each state by flow percentiles at USGS streamgages relative to the historic record across the U.S. Flow percentiles are broken up into seven bins from 0–100% where increased percentiles indicate wetter conditions.

A picture is worth a thousand data points! 📷 📈 We’re harnessing camera-based monitoring and the USGS Flow Photo Explorer...
10/09/2026

A picture is worth a thousand data points! 📷 📈

We’re harnessing camera-based monitoring and the USGS Flow Photo Explorer (FPE) to track baseflow resilience in tributaries across the Neversink Reservoir Watershed, New York.

As part of the USGS Next Generation Water Observing System, this project uses cost-effective technology to assess hydrologic conditions and improve understanding of how flow is maintained in the watershed during periods of low recharge.

Headwater streams, where baseflow contributes most prominently to streamflow generation, are often located in rugged, steep terrain that is difficult to access and monitor.

What is baseflow resilience?

🏦 Think of it as a stream’s natural savings account - the water that seeps into streams from groundwater.

How does the technology work?

📸 Camera network - Fifteen stream and spring sites across the watershed are equipped with trail cameras programmed to capture images at 1-hour or 15-minute intervals.

💻 Machine learning analysis - Trail camera imagery from small streams and hillslope springs was analyzed using FPE to develop site-specific machine-learning models capable of identifying high-flow, low-flow, and dry conditions in minimally monitored areas.

📈 Data visualizations - Interactive visualizations animate flow changes over time and compare conditions.

Every image tells a story of water’s journey. This innovative approach delivers hydrological insights that help protect ecosystems, manage resources, and prepare for the future.

🔎 Explore the FPE - www.usgs.gov/apps/ecosheds/fpe/ #/

📸 1-4: USGS trail cameras monitor mountain headwater streams and groundwater springs in remote locations in the Neversink Reservoir Watershed, New York.

📸 5: Graph displaying flow rank percentiles over time from the FPE model, with orange circles marking trail camera image captures. The model tracks hydrological changes, capturing both a winter 2023-2024 snowmelt high-flow event and dry periods when the spring stopped flowing. Bottom images show the spring in flowing (left) and dry (right) conditions.

📸 Credit: Diana Phillips, USGS

Attention teachers, students, and anyone who likes to hedge your bets! Introducing Flood Risk Simulator: The Game. Flood...
10/08/2026

Attention teachers, students, and anyone who likes to hedge your bets! Introducing Flood Risk Simulator: The Game.

Flooding is one of the most common and costly natural hazards worldwide.

Communities near rivers face tough decisions: Should they invest in insurance? Build in safer zones? Or take the risk to save money?

This educational activity puts you in the role of a community planner in a floodplain. You'll manage a budget, make choices about insurance, and experience the consequences of floods over time. By modeling real-world trade-offs, you'll explore how probability, risk, and human decision-making shape the resilience of communities.

💧 You will work in teams to manage a playground located in the floodplain.

💧 Your goal is to keep your playground open for play while keeping your budget low.

💧 Because each playground sits in a different part of the floodplain, some teams will face a higher or lower chance of flooding than others.

💧 The closer your playground is to the river, the cheaper the land is, and the more expensive the insurance premium is.

Play the game now to learn more about flood frequency, cost trade-offs, and risk!
🔗 water.usgs.gov/vizlab/flood-game/

📷: Cartoon image of a flooding playground with cartoon money floating in the water. Illustration by Althea Archer and Mandie Carr, USGS.

💧 New Lake Temperature Data Now Available! USGS scientists have released one of the largest lake ‑temperature datasets e...
10/07/2026

💧 New Lake Temperature Data Now Available!

USGS scientists have released one of the largest lake ‑temperature datasets ever created, covering 130,000+ lakes across the U.S. from 2013–2025. Thanks to the Landsat 8 satellite and cloud computing, this resource even includes small lakes down to 4 hectares (about four football fields), helping us better understand how small waterbodies can shape big ecosystem processes like carbon and nutrient cycling.

Explore the dataset on WaterMAP and check out its recent feature in DOI’s Remote Sensing Activities.

📷1: Collecting field samples to validate satellite remote sensing of water quality on Fernan Lake, Idaho.

📷2-3: Maps of waterbody temperature for 139,954 lakes during 2013-2025 by season.

Credit: USGS

Learn more: https://ow.ly/1nXg50ZSpiJ

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