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 areas along the Mississippi River Ship Channel are reproduced below (listed in bold):
All locations on the lower Mississippi River continue to be below flood stage.
Rises continue on the lower Ohio and lower Mississippi Rivers. Cresting conditions are expected on the lower Ohio River for early next week.
Minor flooding is forecast on the lower Mississippi River at Red River Landing, LA by early next week. Red River Landing is expected to crest at 51.0ft for May 17th. The remaining locations on the lower Mississippi River are expected to crest below flood stage over the next 1 to 2 weeks. Over the next 7 days, two to five inches of rainfall is forecast over the south Arkansas, north Louisiana, and Mississippi. This may add a few additional tenths to the forecast crests on the lower Mississippi River.
The 16 day future rainfall guidance has been showing lower stages on the lower Ohio River. The guidance now shows no flooding on the lower Ohio River but maintains elevated levels through the third week of May. On the lower Mississippi River, minor flooding would continue at Red River Landing, LA and Baton Rouge, LA would remain above 30ft through the first week of June.
The highest stage of 2021 to date on the Carrollton Gauge at New Orleans was recorded as a crest of 15.44 feet at 1700 hours on April 16, 2021.
The Carrollton Gauge stage at 1200 hours today was 10.75 feet with a 24-hour change of – 0.04 feet. Long range forecasts indicate a slow rise to 12.4 feet on
May 19, 2021 and then to begin a slow fall to 9.9 feet on June 4, 2021.
Please review the link for complete details as distributed by NOAA’s Lower Mississippi River Forecast Center.
