The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Lower Mississippi River Forecast Center (LMRFC) released this update on river stage conditions (today).  

“The lower Mississippi River is near crest now and tidal fluctuations will continue at New Orleans, LA over the next several days.  

Minor flooding continues from Natchez, MS downstream to Red River Landing, LA.  Minor flooding should end at Natchez, MS this weekend and Red River Landing, LA should be below flood levels late next week.

Heavy rainfall is expected over coastal sections of Louisiana during the next couple of days.  The rainfall is not expected to impact cresting conditions on the lower Mississippi River.  The wind and tides will keep stages elevated over the next couple of days. 

Warmer temperatures on the upper Mississippi River is starting to generate snowmelt rises.  The snowmelt alone will not be enough volume to generate flooding problems along the lower Ohio and lower Mississippi Rivers.

The 16 day future rainfall guidance does not show any renewed rises on the lower Ohio and lower Mississippi Rivers through the first week of May.” (Emphasis supplied)

The Carrolton Gage (New Orleans) reading at 1300 hours today was 13.20 feet with a 24-hour change of + 0.07 feet. The stages at the Carrollton Gage are predicted to remain steady the next few days staying near 13.0 feet and are then forecasted to begin a slow fall to 9.0 feet on May 10 (2023).

The graphs below includes the latest river stage forecasts for Cairo (IL) and New Orleans (LA) as reproduced from NOAA’s National Weather Service website (today) and both indicate a slow and steady fall – barring the impacts of future participation impacts.