Over 150 definitions exist for the different manifestations of drought, and one of them is pretty gnarly to forecast. Can AI help predict the kind that grips waterways and staunches flow? Spoiler alert for my @azcentral.com piece: yes, AI improves on flow projections, but it's still a ways off.

A new AI tool could help predict drought on Arizona rivers. Here's how

Climate change is drying out rivers across the country. A new AI forecasting tool can help managers, governments and water users plan.

azcentral.com

Hydrology Paper of the Day @jpgannon.bsky.social @hydrochrista.bsky.social @domciruzzi.bsky.social on understanding the teaching of hydrology at the undergraduate level: course titles, assessments, and objectives; textbooks and grading; and the need for shared educational resources and objectives.

JP Gannon@jpgannon.bsky.social · 6mo ago

@hydrochrista.bsky.social @domciruzzi.bsky.social, and I asked hydrologists across the country for their syllabi so we could investigate how instructors were teaching hydrology courses and think about the future... Here’s what we found + suggestions agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/...

Snow drought continues across much of the western U.S. For much of the region, below normal precipitation is partly to blame (OR, CO, UT, NM), while above normal temperatures have occurred across nearly the entire region.

New preprint led by Aaron Heldmyer and Roy Sando: Random forest + donor gages to predict daily streamflow drought across CONUS. Regional drivers differ—soil moisture, precip, SWE matter most. doi.org/10.5194/egus...

🔥💧 New paper out in Environmental Research: Water led by Brian Ebel! Synthesis shows how wildfires fundamentally shift hydrologic processes and streamflow generation—from infiltration and runoff to baseflow and flood response — post wildfire. iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1...

A review and synthesis of post-wildfire shifts in hydrologic processes and streamflow generation mechanisms

A review and synthesis of post-wildfire shifts in hydrologic processes and streamflow generation mechanisms, Ebel, Brian A, Hammond, John C, Walvoord, Michelle A, Partridge, Trevor F, Rey, David M, Murphy, Sheila F

iopscience.iop.org

If you know an undergraduate looking for a geosciences REU program, our applications are due in one month! Focus this year on community, air, and water projects! sites.google.com/view/csaw-re...

CSAW REU

Overview

sites.google.com

I wrote a commentary discussing Daniele's huge new global synthesis of controls on hydrological processes in forested catchments: read it here: rdcu.be/eXTrq . Some surprising findings on the importance of overland flow, soils and antecedent conditions.

Forest streamflow driven by soils, topography and previous rains

Nature Water - Forests cover almost a third of earth’s land and supply high-quality streamflow and groundwater. A global synthesis of forested catchments provides surprising insights into the...

rdcu.be

Daniele Penna@danielepenna.bsky.social · 7mo ago

How do #climate, #antecedent #moisture, #soils, #topography, #geology, and #vegetation control #runoff #processes in #forested #catchments worldwide? Find this out here rdcu.be/eXTtd! @natwater.nature.com Thanks a lot @mcmillanhydro.bsky.social for this commentary www.nature.com/articles/s44...!

New paper! Real-time flood inundation mapping (FIM) services are an incredibly valuable tool for emergency management and affected communities. But do their visualizations help users quickly and accurately interpret information to make decisions? onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Comparing Flood Inundation Map Features and Diagnosing Decision Support Design Challenges

Using visualisation typologies, we developed a diagnostic evaluation method for eight user-controlled ensemble FIM visualisations. Key design challenges include unclear messaging, non-accessible and ...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

How do #climate, #antecedent #moisture, #soils, #topography, #geology, and #vegetation control #runoff #processes in #forested #catchments worldwide? Find this out here rdcu.be/eXTtd! @natwater.nature.com Thanks a lot @mcmillanhydro.bsky.social for this commentary www.nature.com/articles/s44...!

I’ve always been more of a photographer than anything else when it comes to art. Still trying sketching sometimes, but also enjoying creating vector art versions of my #riversfromabove photos, and some other travel photos. I feel like style is “you love/hate it” without much in the middle. Thoughts?

A piece that felt particularly relevant to write

HYCLIMM - Hydrology & Climate Impacts Group@hyclimm.bsky.social · 8mo ago

‼️ Hot off the press in @natwater.nature.com: "Riverine heatwaves are an emergent climate change risk" We 🐟 (1) highlight the impacts of and unknowns related to riverine heatwaves and 🤔 (2) discuss the research needed to improve our knowledge. Link to article: www.nature.com/articles/s44...

Check out the end-of-the-year blogpost about model design by Jonathan Frame! deepgroundwater.com/blog/what-do...

New paper in WRR: Snow Sublimation Significantly Decreases Following Stand-Replacing Fire With Minor Water Balance Impacts From Forest Thinning in a Water Limited Forest. find it here: doi.org/10.1029/2025...

Snow Sublimation Significantly Decreases Following Stand‐Replacing Fire With Minor Water Balance Impacts From Forest Thinning in a Water Limited Forest

Snow sublimation is significantly reduced following a wildfire A thinning prescription that targeted ladder fuels and white fir had minimal impacts on sublimation and the overall water balance

doi.org

Hydrology Paper of the Day @andy-baker.bsky.social on quantifying the drip of water underground as part of rainfall recharge: groundwater monitoring near the water table in Australia; why mines, tunnels and caves are essential monitoring locations; and relating rock aquifer response to rainfall.

Andy Baker@andy-baker.bsky.social · 8mo ago

We have a new position paper, where we advocate for the wider use of underground observatories to understand how groundwater is replenished. By directly observing these recharge events, we can make a direct link between groundwater replenishment, weather and climate. eos.org/science-upda...

Working with large-sample hydrology datasets and curious about how maps with varying levels of detail influence the identification of geology–streamflow relationships? Check out our latest preprint at HESS! #Hydrology #CatchmentHydrology #LargeSampleHydrology #Eawag #hightlightpaper #HESS

How do geological map details influence the identification of geology-streamflow relationships in large-sample hydrology studies?

Abstract. Large-sample hydrology datasets have advanced hydrological research, yet the impact of landscape map details on identifying dominant streamflow generation processes remains underexplored. Th...

doi.org

@rarakihydro.bsky.social leads an exiting new preprint that maps dominant hydrologic processes across >14k US watersheds using streamflow signatures + ML. It’s been such fun following Ryoko and Hilary’s leadership alongside Admin, Anne and Gemma. egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/20...

Excited to unveil Caravan-Qual! 🌊 We've expanded the Caravan framework to bridge the gap between water quantity and quality. This new open dataset features: 🔹 ~70M observations 🔹137k stations 🔹 100 constituents 🔹 Linked streamflow, forcing & attributes Links in 🧵

Happening this morning! Run don’t walk to room 228-230 to hear @zhaozhechen.bsky.social talk hydroclimate-ET synchrony!! @agu.org

Margaret Zimmer@margaretzimmer.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Postdoc @zhaozhechen.bsky.social is representing our Powell Center ecosystem synchrony group at AGU this year! Come check out his Thursday 10:52 AM talk (abstract 1882146) in rm 228-230! it’s all about hydroclimatic and critical zone synchrony with/drivers of evapotranspiration.

In case you missed it live, a full recording of my rapid-response livestream regarding news surrounding the proposed imminent and sudden dismantling of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) is now available.

Special rapid response stream re: proposed dismantling of National Center for Atmospheric Research

The latest in a recurring series of live, virtual, & interactive "office hours" hosted by Dr. Daniel Swain on various topics related to extreme #weather and #climate. 12/17/2025 topic: This will be a special emergency livestream to discuss the context and broader implications of breaking news last n

youtu.be

Another example - from just today - of excellent and essential climate and weather research from @ncar-ucar.bsky.social with clear impacts on flood-prone communities doi.org/10.1038/s432... #NCAR

I 'll have a special rapid-response livestream for 8:30am PT today to discuss dire implications of this proposal to dismantle NCAR. Due to extreme fire weather in Boulder today (and associated pre-emptive power outages/NCAR closure), I am going live ASAP. www.youtube.com/live/FTKW68R...

Special rapid response stream re: proposed dismantling of National Center for Atmospheric Research

YouTube video by Weather West

youtube.com

Daniel Swain@weatherwest.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Unbelievable. This would be a terrible blow to American science, writ large. It would decimate not only climate research, but also the kind of weather, wildfire, and disaster research that has underpinned half a century of progress in prediction, early warning, and increased resilience.

The latest UK Hydrological Summary has been published 🌧️ November was UK's wettest month so far in 2025 & many areas have shifted from drought concerns to flood risk. Groundwater levels notably low and reservoir levels still below average in parts. Winter rainfall amount will be crucial. 🧪 1/

Photos from the Patapsco River in Maryland yesterday. Lucky to have the snow stick to the trees despite the high winds! #riversfromabove

The fact that parts of Washington are seeing record-breaking flooding this week is not surprising given that 1) many locations saw record 24hr precipitation (well above 100yr ARI) & 2) near-record temperatures *simultaneously* (no snow in mtns, so all precip became runoff). #WAwx

A powerful atmospheric river has drenched Washington state with nearly 5 trillion gallons of rain over the past week. The deluge is linked to warm water and air, along with unusual weather conditions tracing back to tropical cyclone flooding in Indonesia.

Blend of unusual weather conditions brings trillions of gallons in persistent rain to the Northwest

A powerful atmospheric river has drenched Washington state with nearly 5 trillion gallons of rain over the past week.

bit.ly

Sand bag deployment and flood as seen from USGS High Vis camera in Everson, WA apps.usgs.gov/hivis/camera...

Officials warned of “locally catastrophic” river flooding in Washington state Wednesday amid a major atmospheric river storm that was poised to drop 20 inches of rain in the Cascade Range. Two rivers north of Seattle, the Snohomish and Skagit rivers, were predicted to crest at record levels.

Atmospheric river dumping 20 inches of rain on West Coast mountain range

Dozens of rivers were forecast to spill their banks across the Pacific Northwest, as Washington state braced for its worst flooding in at least 16 years.

sfchronicle.com

Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson declares a statewide emergency in response to flooding occurring throughout the Pacific Northwest. www.king5.com/article/weather...

Statewide emergency declared in Washington as major flooding occurs

Gov. Ferguson is asking the federal government to approve an expedited emergency declaration for the 'extremely serious' situation.

king5.com

Bettina Schaefli and I warmly invite you to submit abstracts to a new EGU session HS2.2.5 New Developments in Hydrological Synthesis Abstract submission: www.egu26.eu/session/55911 1/6