The early to mid March outlook for spring flooding in the Upper Mississippi River and Chippewa basins has been upgraded to well above normal, particularly on the Mississippi from St. Paul downstream.
According to the National Weather Service in the Twin Cities, the addition of rain and snow over the past few weeks has raised the amount of water in the snowpack to very high levels for this time of year.
Factors that could help alleviate at least some of the snowmelt threats are becoming less relevant the longer the snowpack holds on.
As always, the threat of major flooding will still depend on what kind of rainfall/temperature patterns we get the rest of March and April.
Due to the nature of this year’s flood potential, the Weather Service will issue an additional spring outlook on Thursday, March 23rd