The World Meteorological Organization said below-normal river flows covered 36% of global basin area in 2025 and that terrestrial water storage has declined since 2014-2016. KOLO 8, citing Gray News, said the annual freshwater analysis finds the water cycle off balance, with record floods and droughts in each of the past five years.
The World Meteorological Organization reports below-normal river flows across 36% of global basin area in 2025. For the seventh year running, river basins with historically normal flows were a minority, at 34%–38% against a 1991-2020 average of 46%. Secretary-General Celeste Saulo said terrestrial water storage has declined since 2014-2016. The 2025 year ranks among the driest river years in 35 years. Those shares are the WMO note’s.[1], [2]
The WMO note said every major glaciated region lost ice for a fourth consecutive year. The assessment uses simulations from 13 global hydrological models using observed weather. That model count is stated in the organization note. It is not, in the sentences here, a claim about a single river gauge. The storage decline since 2014-2016 is the same window named above, not a second start date.[1], [2]
KOLO 8, citing Gray News, said the World Meteorological Organization’s annual freshwater analysis finds the water cycle off balance. The station said the past five years all saw record floods and droughts, with little time to recover between extremes. It also said fossil-fuel pollution is throwing the water cycle off balance. However that pollution clause is the station’s attribution, not a new WMO percentage. Alternative explanation: a run of extremes can reflect a short observational window rather than a permanent new baseline.[1], [2]
