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

On the lower Mississippi River above the junction with the Arkansas River, minor flooding will continue from New Madrid, MO to Osceola, AR and at Mhoon Landing, MS.  Rises of 1 to 2 feet will occur over the next 7 to 10 days as routed water from the lower Ohio River continues to work downstream. 

On the lower Mississippi River below the junction with the Arkansas River, moderate flooding will continue at Natchez, MS and minor flooding will continue from Arkansas City, AR to Vicksburg, MS and from Red River Landing, LA to Baton Rouge, LA.   The peak flows from the Arkansas River are starting to enter the lower Mississippi River.  Arkansas City, AR should crest over the next couple of days and the crest should approach New Orleans, LA by the end of the weekend.

Crests on the lower Mississippi River between Arkansas City, AR downstream to New Orleans, LA will crest on flows from the Arkansas River and before the routed water from the lower Ohio River.  The routed water from the lower Ohio River will fill in behind the current crests and keep stages elevated through April. 

The 16 day future rainfall model shows the same crests as the official forecast on the lower Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. 

The Carrollton Gauge at New Orleans is predicted to continue rise until cresting at 15.0 feet on April 4, 2021 and to then begin a slow fall to 11.0 feet on April 26, 2021.

Please review the link for complete details as distributed by NOAA’s Lower Mississippi River Forecast Center.