ISCIENCES WORLDWIDE WATER WATCH LIST NOVEMBER 2018

15 November 2018

This map presents a selection of regions likely to encounter significant water anomalies during the one year period beginning in August 2018 and running through July 2019 using 3 months of observed temperature and precipitation data and 9 months of forecast data.

The synopsis that follows provides highlights of regional water forecasts.Regional details are available in ISciences Global Water Monitor & Forecast November 15, 2018 (pdf).

United States: The forecast through January calls attention to significant water surpluses that will cut a wide north/south path from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula down through Texas, and will emerge in the Ohio River Valley leading into widespread surpluses in the east from Maine to South Carolina. Surpluses are expected to be exceptional in Texas, Wisconsin, and Iowa, among other areas. Moderate to extreme deficits are forecast for Florida. Deficits are also forecast for central Colorado, the Rio Grande through New Mexico, and northwestern California into Oregon.

Canada: The forecast through January indicates widespread, intense water deficits across central Quebec, and moderate surpluses in the south. In Ontario, moderate deficits are expected in the south, though conditions may be more intense around Ottawa, and widespread surpluses for much of the north. Elsewhere, a complex patchwork of anomalies is forecast including deficits of varying severity across the southern Prairie Provinces and intense surpluses in southern British Columbia.

Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean: The forecast through January indicates moderate to severe deficits in the northern Yucatan Peninsula and scattered throughout the southern states, and severe deficits along the Rio Grande in Chihuahua. Surpluses are forecast for northern Coahuila; a path from southern Durango through Mexico City; and, southern Guatemala, El Salvador, southern Honduras, Nicaragua, and northern Costa Rica. Intense deficits are forecast for Jamaica.

South America: Through January, water deficits of varying intensity are forecast across northwestern South America and will be extreme to exceptional in Amazonas and Rondônia, Brazil; southern Venezuela; southwestern Colombia; and a pocket surrounding Quito, Ecuador. Other areas of deficit include: from southern Peru past Santiago, Chile; from Cochabamba, Bolivia past the southern border; and central Mato Grosso, Brazil. Areas of surplus include: eastern Paraguay and across the borders into Argentina and Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil; Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil; and northern Bolivia.

Europe: In the near-term through January, widespread water deficits are forecast though exceptional deficits will shrink. Areas of intense deficit include: the Balkans, Ireland, Germany, France, Luxembourg, Belgium, Netherlands, Denmark, southern Norway, Estonia, and Latvia. Areas of surplus include Norway, northern European Russia, Scotland, and Sicily.

Africa: The forecast through January indicates that exceptional deficits in Africa will shrink considerably, but moderate to severe deficits are forecast across much of the north. Areas of intense deficit include southeastern Algeria; the Nile River, the White Nile and parts of the Blue Nile; northwestern and southeastern Nigeria; western Ethiopia; and northern Democratic Republic of the Congo into Central African Republic. Areas of surpluses include south-central Chad and Liberia.

Middle East: Water deficits are expected to shrink and downgrade significantly through January with conditions approaching normal in Iraq, Syria, northeastern Saudi Arabia, and Iran. Deficits will intensify in Georgia, and extreme deficits will emerge on the Kura River in Azerbaijan. Intense deficits are also forecast for southern Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and, to a lesser degree, western Turkey and along Turkey’s Black Sea coast.

Central Asia and Russia: The forecast through January indicates intense water surpluses for Russia’s Ob River, Yenisei River watershed, the Nizhnyaya Tunguska River region, and along the Vakh, Pur, and Taz Rivers. Surpluses in the Northern European Plain will intensify, becoming exceptional, and intense surpluses will re-emerge in the Volga Uplands. Deficits will intensify in the Ural River watershed of Russia and Kazakhstan. In Turkmenistan, severe deficits will persist along the Harirud River in Turkmenistan.

South Asia: Through January, water deficits will moderate in Afghanistan and Pakistan but remain intense northeast of Kabul and along the Harirud River, and around Karachi and east of Hyderabad. In India, deficits will increase and intensify, blanketing a vast extent across the country’s girth, and will include exceptional deficits throughout Gujarat in the west and severe to exceptional deficits from Madhya Pradesh through Karnataka, as well as in Punjab, Rajasthan, Haryana, and India’s Far Northeast.

Southeast Asia and the Pacific: The forecast through January indicates intense surpluses in western Myanmar, eastern Myanmar along the Sittong and Salween Rivers, northern Laos, and northern Vietnam. Deficits will persist in western Cambodia, increase in Thailand, and emerge in central Myanmar, central Laos, central Vietnam, and the Philippines. Conditions will be especially intense in Cambodia and Thailand.

East Asia: The forecast through January indicates widespread surpluses south of the Yangtze River and in the Pearl River watershed. Intense surpluses will persist in Northeast China and western Sichuan, Qinghai, and Tibet. Deficits are forecast for Hubei, eastern Sichuan, Shaanxi, Henan, Shanxi, and Hebei. Deficits are expected to increase and intensify across southern Mongolia and from western Inner Mongolia, China through Xinjiang with conditions of both deficit and surplus in areas of transition. On the Korean Peninsula, moderate surpluses are forecast in the south and moderate deficits in the north.

Australia & New Zealand:The forecast through January indicates that intense water deficits will persist in southeastern Australia with exceptional deficits in western Tasmania. Deficits may be severe to extreme along the Murray River. Moderate deficits will cut a broad path from New South Wales into the center of the country surrounding the Simpson Desert. Some severe deficits are forecast in western North Island, New Zealand. Deficits in New Caledonia will moderate.

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