Plains, Mass. River Stages Break 1960's Records
According to this article NOAA says that over one-third of the United States could see historic flooding this Spring. We have an excellent detailed article covering the Spring flooding happening now, and what will happen in the future. I have been watching the rivers on NOAA's site this week... currently there are 232 river gauges over Flood Stage with another 188 near it (click on the static map below for live data):
I have taken particular note of rivers that have broken their all-time stage records (which typically date back to the beginning of the 20th century). This is interesting to think that the water has never been higher at these locations, throughout recorded history. Below I show graphs from several locations that have broken records, some dating back to 45 years ago (click on the static graphs for live data):
1. The Vermillion River near Wakonda, SD crested at 17.6 feet Monday 3/15 (graph | live), 0.6 feet above Major Flood Stage. Their record is 17.62 ft in 1984; because the current numbers are rounded off it's not clear if the record was broken.
2. The Vermillion River at Davis, SD crested at 16.4 feet, 0.6 feet over Major Flood stage Monday 3/15, besting their record stage of 15.75 feet in 1969:
3. The Little Sioux River at Linn Grove, IA, is still going up, and is at 1.5 feet (so far) above Major Flood Stage, beating its record stage of 22.25 feet from 1965. It is beating the forecast which originally predicted its crest tonight: (UPDATE: It crested at 22.85 feet)
Here's a photo of the rising Little Sioux River by Facebook Fan Paul:
By the way, it's not lost on me that flooding is still continuing as a result of the weekend Nor'easter, and is historic at one location:
The Taunton River at Bridgewater, Massachusetts broke their record of 14.48 feet in 1968 and is cresting at 14.51 feet right now (may go higher yet). UPDATE: It fell after 14.51 feet.
The Passaic River at Pine Brook, NJ also came within a foot of their record stage.
For future updates on rivers that I find exceeding historic levels, follow me on Twitter, (or read "J's Breaking Weather News" below). Also check out our BreakingWeather Twitter feed for more news story updates.
We got this photo from a Facebook Fan Jason S. today in New Hampshire:
