Variations may also arise from differences in measurement systems, e.g., in situ vs. remotely sensed observations. Some indices such as soil moisture may be misleading because they may not adequately account for water stored in deep aquifers, snow on the ground or frozen ground. Finally, because information comes from a variety of sometimes independent sources, in some cases, data in the various links might appear to be inconsistent. Therefore, care should be used when comparing information provided by the links on this site. This information includes monthly and seasonal precipitation and temperature outlooks.
Climatological outlooks can provide valuable information about possible future flooding.
Areas with high flood potential that are projected to be wet in the upcoming periods warrant attention. Under some conditions, locations with deep snow cover that are in areas where climatological outlooks indicate temperatures are likely to be warm could be susceptible to snow melt flooding. However, climatological outlooks provide information about average conditions over a period of time, and they say nothing about the details of specific weather systems that, in aggregate, make up the climatology. An area can receive above normal precipitation over a period of time due to a series of light to moderate rainfall events. Such events may not be sufficient to cause serious flooding, even at locations identified as having above average flood potential.