The World Meteorological Organization just dropped a sobering new study.Its finding: the world’s water cycle is becoming more inconsistent.Some areas are seeing
The World Meteorological Organization just dropped a sobering new study.
Its finding: the world’s water cycle is becoming more inconsistent.
Some areas are seeing heavier downpours and flooding, while others miss out on the rain they need.
In 2025, rivers worldwide had one of their driest years for discharge in 35 years. At the same time, the planet’s freshwater reserves like groundwater, glaciers, snow and ice, and lakes are being drawn down in many places.
This gives many of us less of a cushion when drought arrives.
That matters here, too, as Washington and Oregon battle the most intense wildfire season on record. Dry stretches impact us more when our environment has less stored water to fall back on.
And the report says record floods and droughts have struck in each of the past five years—sometimes so close together that regions have little time to recover before the next event.
