Enhancing an understanding of expansion/contraction dynamics of active drainage networks is fundamental for both scientific purposes and environmental planning and management. This study analyzes for the first time the network shrinking and dry down in two seasonally dry Mediterranean catchments (overall area 1.15 km²) using a comprehensive approach based on monitoring and modeling of the active network. A seasonal field campaign consisting of 19 subweekly visual surveys was carried out at the beginning of the summer of 2019. Observations were then used to calibrate and validate an integrated model aimed at estimating the time evolution of the total active drainage network length based on meteorological drivers and defining the position of the active stretches based on topographic and geological information. Statistical modeling of the active length showed that weather can successfully describe the observed variability of network dynamics during the summer recession. In particular, the study emphasizes the role of evapotranspiration in the seasonal contraction of the stream network. The modeling of the spatial patterns of the active network achieved good performance when topographic data were used as explanatory variables. Nevertheless, the model performance further increased when site-specific geological information was integrated into the model, with accuracies higher than 90% in cell-by-cell comparisons. The proposed methodology, which combines meteorological, topographic and geological information in a sequential manner, was able to accurately represent the space/time dynamics of the active drainage network in the study area, proving to be an effective and flexible tool for the study of network dynamics.