AccuWeather.com

By Alex Sosnowski, Expert Senior Meteorologist

Mar 15, 2010; 11:15 AM ET

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Melting snow has rivers on the rise over the northern Plains this week, and as is usually the case, people will be dealing with flooding problems for weeks in part of the region.

Rain and melting snow led to major flooding along several rivers in Iowa late last week.

Photo submitted by AccuWeather.com Facebook user Paul Andrew Stanzel at Spencer, Iowa.

While the rainstorm moved away and into the Northeast, climbing temperatures accelerated the melting process, leading to high water issues over the central Plains. The melting snow has begun the long process of flooding farther north over the Dakotas, Minnesota and Manitoba.

Building warmth over the northern Plains will add to flooding woes.

While a significant amount of snow has melted over the region already, a considerable amount of snow remained over the Dakotas Monday. A large part of that snow contained locked-up water equal to 5 inches of rain from central North Dakota to southeastern Minnesota.

The James and Red rivers were on the rise Monday. Major flooding was already occurring on the James, while the Red was just in the early stages of what will likely be a long, drawn-out flooding situation.

The early indications are the flooding will stop a bit short of record levels on the Red; however, major flooding is expected. The record crest at Fargo, N.D., was 40.84 feet set during on March 28, 2009.

In the above video, more details of the situation along the Des Moines, James and Red rivers are discussed.

Unlike most other rivers in the region, the Red River flows northward into the colder lands of the Canadian Prairies. This setup often magnifies flooding problems farther north along the river.

Portions of the Des Moines River in Iowa are forecast to crest near record flood stage late this week.

Other rivers in the Midwest were expected to be at minor or moderate flood levels over the next week to 10 days, including the Illinois and Ohio rivers. It may be weeks until the runoff reaches a peak in the Mississippi River.

Much less snow cover across eastern Minnesota, Wisconsin and the Ohio Valley may lessen the severity of flooding problems along the Mississippi. Even so, significant rises on the river are expected in the weeks ahead.

Colder air is forecast to sweep into the region from northwest to southeast late in the week into the weekend, which should slow the runoff over the Plains and Midwest. However, the transition will be accompanied by a storm with areas of rain and wet snow.

AccuWeather.com long range expert Joe Bastardi expects several additional potent storms to affect a large part of the nation through the balance of the month, before the weather stabilizes in April.

Any additional rain and wet snow subject to rapid melting would play a role in flooding.