diff --git a/src/wres/Functions.java b/src/wres/Functions.java
index 3ca021c257..3fa454d84f 100644
--- a/src/wres/Functions.java
+++ b/src/wres/Functions.java
@@ -856,7 +856,16 @@ private static void openResources( SharedResources sharedResources )
              && ( Objects.isNull( Functions.database )
                   || Functions.database.isShutdown() ) )
         {
-            Functions.database = new Database( new ConnectionSupplier( sharedResources.systemSettings ) );
+            // Try to create a database connection and catch exceptions to log the reason why our connection failed
+            try
+            {
+                Functions.database = new Database( new ConnectionSupplier( sharedResources.systemSettings ) );
+            }
+            catch ( IllegalStateException ise )
+            {
+                LOGGER.error( "Unable to create database with: ", ise );
+            }
+
             // Migrate the database, as needed
             if ( Functions.database.getAttemptToMigrate() )
             {
@@ -866,7 +875,7 @@ private static void openResources( SharedResources sharedResources )
                 }
                 catch ( SQLException e )
                 {
-                    throw new IllegalStateException( "Failed to migrate the WRES database.", e );
+                    throw new InternalWresException( "Failed to migrate the WRES database.", e );
                 }
             }
         }
@@ -932,6 +941,10 @@ private static void logExecution( SharedResources sharedResources,
         if ( sharedResources.systemSettings()
                             .isUseDatabase() )
         {
+            if ( Objects.isNull( Functions.database ) )
+            {
+                throw new InternalWresException( "Unable to log failure in database because connection does not exist" );
+            }
             Instant endedExecution = Instant.now();
 
             // Log both the operation and the args
diff --git a/wres-io/src/wres/io/database/ConnectionSupplier.java b/wres-io/src/wres/io/database/ConnectionSupplier.java
index 69a2cc5428..b6a8bfe01c 100644
--- a/wres-io/src/wres/io/database/ConnectionSupplier.java
+++ b/wres-io/src/wres/io/database/ConnectionSupplier.java
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 import com.github.marschall.jfr.jdbc.JfrDataSource;
 import com.zaxxer.hikari.HikariConfig;
 import com.zaxxer.hikari.HikariDataSource;
+import com.zaxxer.hikari.pool.HikariPool;
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 
@@ -80,7 +81,15 @@ private DataSource makeConnectionPool()
         int maxPoolSize = databaseConfiguration.getMaxPoolSize();
         LOGGER.info( "Creating a database connection pool with {} connections...", maxPoolSize );
         long connectionTimeoutMs = databaseConfiguration.getConnectionTimeoutMs();
-        DataSource inner = createDataSource( maxPoolSize, connectionTimeoutMs );
+        DataSource inner;
+        try
+        {
+            inner = createDataSource( maxPoolSize, connectionTimeoutMs );
+        }
+        catch ( HikariPool.PoolInitializationException e )
+        {
+            throw new IllegalStateException( "Unable to create pool", e );
+        }
         return new JfrDataSource( inner ); // Monitor JDBC traffic with JFR: #61680
     }