New tool can show historic, simulated future water conditions

Water users around the country can now view the past and simulated future of hydrologic processes. The Hydrology Futures Portal, released this month by the U.S. Geological Survey, provides a user-friendly interface summarizing monthly historic (1952 through 2005) and simulated future conditions (2020 through 2099) for various meteorological and hydrological variables at locations across the conterminous United States.

The features on this new application include seven searchable meteorological and hydrological variables: actual evapotranspiration, atmospheric temperature, potential evapotranspiration and precipitation, runoff, snow water equivalent (the volume of water stored in the snowpack/depth of water if the snow melted), and streamflow.