The forecast through March indicates a pattern of water anomalies similar to the prior three months. Notable changes are as follows: deficits are expected to increase and intensify in southern Saskatchewan and to a lesser extent in southern Alberta; and, moderate surpluses will emerge in southwestern British Columbia and along the length of BC’s coast. Persisting conditions include intense deficits in the Ottawa-Gatineau Region of Quebec and across the border into Southern Ontario.
Though exceptional water surpluses will diminish through March, widespread and intense conditions will persist from Wisconsin through southern Minnesota, Iowa, eastern Nebraska, eastern Kansas, central Oklahoma, and central and eastern Texas. Surpluses along the Eastern Seaboard will also persist but moderate, while conditions in the Ohio River Valley normalize. In the western US, mild deficits are forecast punctuated by pockets of more intense anomalies, deficits as well as surpluses.
Regions forecast to have significant water deficits for the 12-month period from October 2018 through September 2019 include: Quebec (Canada), Finland, Venezuela, Somalia, South Africa, India, Thailand, Cambodia, and Australia. Areas with a forecast of significant water surplus include: Texas (US), Paraguay, Uruguay, Tanzania, and China. This Watch List is based on ISciences Water Security Indicator Model (WSIM) run on 1 February 2019.
Among warm anomalies in the February Outlook the forecast indicates much higher than normal temperatures in Southeast Asia and along China’s southeast coast and in Taiwan. Conditions are expected to be wetter than normal along the lower Yangtze River, in the US Southwest, and around the Gulf of Guinea in Africa.
DELAYED: Release of Global Water Monitor & Forecast Watch List January 2019 is delayed due to partial government shutdown.
The January Outlook indicates much wetter than normal conditions forecast for southern China through the Pearl River Basin encompassing the Pearl’s northern tributaries; and, oceans away in Uruguay. Temperatures in Northeast China are expected to be exceptionally warmer than usual, anomalies with a return period of 40 or more years.
Through February, widespread intense water surpluses will persist in the center of the country and in the east. Surpluses will cut a broad path from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, passing through Iowa and reaching the eastern half of Texas. Surpluses are also forecast for the northern Ohio River Basin and in the east from southern New York through Florida’s Panhandle, and will be extreme in eastern Pennsylvania. Areas of deficit include: northern New York, northern Maine, southern Florida, northwestern Wyoming, Colorado, and western Oregon.
The forecast through February indicates a pattern of anomalies similar to the prior three months, including: exceptional water deficits in Quebec, notably in the Ottawa-Gatineau River region in the south and across the border into Ontario; intense deficits in the Middle and Upper Reaches of the Athabasca River watershed in Alberta; and intense surpluses in southeastern British Columbia. Deficits are expected to increase in southern Saskatchewan where anomalies will be severe to exceptional.
For the next three months, water surpluses will persist in northern Coahuila, Mexico, and along a diagonal from southern Durango through Mexico City, broken by a pocket of exceptional deficits in southern Puebla, and continuing into northern Oaxaca. Intense surpluses are forecast in Nicaragua. Areas of deficit include: the Rio Grande in Chihuahua, northern Yucatan, western Panama, Jamaica, Haiti, and Dominican Republic.
Exceptional water deficits will diminish considerably over the next several months but through February intense deficits are forecast in: southern Amazonas, Brazil; southeastern Venezuela; northern Chile; and southwestern Bolivia. Deficits of varying intensity are forecast in the northwest quadrant of the continent. Areas of surplus include: Amapá, Brazil, and southern Mato Grosso through western Minas Gerais; northern Bolivia; Paraguay; and the Paraná River in Argentina to Buenos Aires.