Long-term flooding remains a concern in central US as rivers continue to rise
A number of temporary flood walls have been built in Minnesota in anticipation of spring flooding. This drone footage shows one of these walls holding back up to 4 feet of water in the city of Henderson on March 25.
While some rivers have crested, others continue to rise and may not crest until the middle to latter part of April over the central United States.
Snow from the winter has melted across much of the Plains and Midwest. However, there still remains 1-2 feet of snow on the ground over the northern tier of the Midwest. Within this snow, there is as much as 6 inches of water locked up.
This map shows remaining snow cover and the amount of water locked up in the snow in inches. (Office of Water Prediction / NOAA)
Rivers such as the Red River of the North and portions of the James and Mississippi have not yet crested with major flooding still to come over the next one to four weeks.
At Huron, South Dakota, the James River is forecast to hold at a major flood stage of around 16.3 feet through at least mid-April.
In Fargo, North Dakota, the Red River is forecast to crest near 35 feet on April 8.
Meanwhile, the Mississippi River at Rock Island, Illinois, is forecast to gradually crest at major flood stage early this week.
As of April 6, every point on the Mississippi River along the borders of Iowa and Illinois was either at major flood stage or expected to reach major flood stage over the next week.
The crests assume no significant rainfall. Without any additional rain, these rivers may remain above major flood stage through the middle of April and may not fall below flood stage in some cases until the middle to latter part of May.
Farther south along the Mississippi River, at and below the confluence of the Missouri River to the confluence of the Ohio River, water levels have already crested or will crest at moderate flood stage this weekend.
Light to moderate rain has fallen on the Ohio River basin and the Arkansas River basin in recent weeks.
This has had a positive effect against flooding on the lower Mississippi River and should help to mitigate an anticipated secondary rise due to melting snow over the northern tier over the next month or two.
However, rivers and streams remain elevated, and the ground is still wet. Should heavy rain frequent any parts of the Plains and Midwest in the coming weeks, then new flooding problems may quickly return on any of the rivers over the central and northern Plains and into parts of the Midwest.
On one hand, rising temperatures, sunshine and lengthening daylight will help to increase evaporation rates.
On the other hand, warmth and higher humidity levels will bring an increasing chance of thunderstorm downpours that can cause localized flooding. Large clusters of thunderstorms can produce torrential rainfall and raise the risk of flooding over a large area.
What is the outlook for rain?
"We think the heaviest thunderstorms will tend to focus over the southern Plains in the coming weeks," according to AccuWeather Lead Long-Range Meteorologist Paul Pastelok.
"This should rob some of the moisture for storms farther to the north for the majority of the rainfall events, but perhaps not all of the events," Pastelok said.
One such exception will come around midweek as a potent storm slams the nation's midsection with blizzard conditions, heavy rain and strong winds.
"Well after the storm passes, runoff from the rain or melting snow can prolong or worsen the ongoing river flooding in the Dakotas and along the Mississippi River," according to AccuWeather Meteorologist Alyson Hoegg.
Ahead of this storm, downpours and severe thunderstorms will track across the southern United States into Monday.
The storm will also bring lighter rain and hit-or-miss storms to parts of the Central states.
Some rain is likely to extend to the Canada border with the weekend storm.
Download the free AccuWeather app to receive the latest forecast and flood advisories for your area.
Report a Typo
