A forecast update provided by our colleagues from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Lower Mississippi River Forecast Center is here. Highlights from today’s update specific to the New Orleans area are reproduced below:

The first significant rise of the season is now occurring on the lower Ohio and lower Mississippi Rivers.  Minor to isolated moderate flooding is expected on the lower Ohio River and isolated minor flooding is forecast on the lower Mississippi River.

The lower Mississippi River will continue to rise over the next several weeks and crests will not approach New Orleans, LA until the third week of March.

The 16 day future rainfall guidance has very little rainfall so crests on the lower Ohio and lower Mississippi River are generally the same as the official forecast.

The Mississippi River is expected to crest at 13.0 feet on March 20, 2021 this stage level at 1200 hours today was feet 7.44 feet with a 24-hour change of + 0.80 feet.