U.S. forecasters are warning for the third consecutive year that "widespread major flooding" is a risk this spring. As the heavy winter snows begin to melt, rivers across eastern Montana and the Dakotas are likely to swell beyond their banks, as is the upper Mississippi River from Minnesota to Missouri.
"In March and April, as temperatures rise and the snow melts, frozen ground and saturated soil will enhance runoff, causing streams and rivers to swell," warned National Weather Service forecasters in a press release. "The timing and the rate of snow melt and any rain that falls during snow melt contribute to the magnitude and extent of flooding."
NEWS: Satellite Flood Prediction Could Save Lives
The warning singled out the Red River Basin, the Devils Lake Basin, the Minnesota River, the Missouri River Basin, including the James and Big Sioux rivers, and Upper Mississippi River all the way downstream to St. Louis.
For much of the region, in parts of North Dakota, eastern South Dakota and Minnesota, forecasters point to flood risk factors going all the way back to last summer, when precipitation in late summer and autumn was twice the normal, leaving the soil saturated even before the first snowfalls and freezing temperatures of winter.
“Excessive precipitation, mainly in the form of snow, coupled with continuously frigid temperatures, has yielded a thick snowpack in much of the upper Midwest. We expect significant flooding when this snow begins to melt,” said Lynn Maximuk, central region director of the National Weather Service. “We urge residents in risk areas to closely monitor NOAA’s river forecasts and warnings, and prepare now for flooding.”
MAP: National Weather Service, Hydrologic Information Center
Tags: Floods, Meteorology, Natural Disasters, Rivers, Weather
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