Flood outlook for District of Columbia.

Each gauge carries two independent readings. The forecast is the highest level still ahead in the river forecast centre's current forecast — which is what makes this map forward-looking. The observed category describes the gauge's latest actual reading. A gauge can be quiet now and forecast to reach minor flooding in two days, or the reverse. A gauge with no forecast is not a gauge forecast to stay dry; it is a gauge NOAA has not issued a forecast for.

Driftwise re-serves NOAA's own categories from a copy refreshed hourly. We do not issue forecasts, we do not issue warnings, and this page can be up to an hour behind. For flood warnings in District of Columbia, and for anything you would act on, use theNational Water Prediction Serviceand your local National Weather Service office; for life-safety information, follow your local emergency management agency.

NOAA’s river forecast centres call the next few days at every forecast gauge in the country, on the National Weather Service’s own flood categories — action, minor, moderate and major.

Open the flood outlook map →

Watershed Explorer

Click any point in the country — or search a subbasin, gauge or lake by name — and read what nine federal datasets say about it: flow, drought, fire, smoke, flood forecast, satellite cyanobacteria screening, land cover, critical habitat and Clean Water Act impairment, each one labelled with what it is actually a fact about.

Wildfire & Smoke Map — District of Columbia

Official NIFC fire perimeters and incident points under NOAA’s HRRR-Smoke near-surface forecast, filterable by size, state, and containment.

Open the national wildfire and smoke map →

Streamflow Map — District of Columbia

Every reporting USGS stream gauge in the country, coloured by how today’s flow ranks against that gauge’s own record for this calendar day.

Open the national streamflow map →

U.S. Drought Map — District of Columbia

The U.S. Drought Monitor — the country’s official weekly drought assessment — drawn across five severity categories from D0 to D4.

Open the national U.S. drought map →

Impaired Waters Map — District of Columbia

Every subwatershed in the country against the states’ own Clean Water Act assessments — what is impaired, what is still on the 303(d) list, what is causing it, and how much of the country nobody has assessed at all.

Open the national impaired waters map →

Cyanobacteria Bloom Map — District of Columbia

NASA and EPA’s satellites read a pigment index over roughly 2,300 U.S. lakes large enough to resolve at 300 m. A pre-screening indicator, not a health assessment, and never a substitute for your state’s advisory.

Open the national cyanobacteria bloom map →

Critical Habitat & Protected Waters Map — District of Columbia

Every river and stream the federal government has designated as ESA critical habitat, the listed species each unit is designated for, and who manages the protected land around it.

Open the national critical habitat map →