The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Lower Mississippi River Forecast Center (LMRFC) released the update below on river stage conditions (today). The LMRFC provided the following text with no attachment for today’s update.

“Over the past week, scattered showers and thunderstorms have occurred over parts of the Ohio valley and limited runoff has generated minimal rises on the lower Ohio River.

Cairo, IL on the lower Ohio River is near 11.0ft today and continues to be well below normal for the time of year.  The stages on the lower Ohio River continue to be similar to the 2012 levels. 

Over the next few days, the rainfall axis will be south of the junction of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers and will not provide much relief for lower water conditions on the lower Mississippi River.

Rainfall amounts of 1 to 2 inches  are expected in the middle Mississippi and Tennessee Valleys over the weekend into early next week.  

The 16 day future rainfall model is showing a minor rise of 1 foot for early next week and then falls for the remainder of June into the middle of July.  Cairo, IL is projected to reach 10ft by the first week of July. (Emphasis supplied)

The Carrolton Gage (New Orleans) reading at 1400 hours today was 3.95 feet with a 24-hour change of + 0.16 feet. The stages on the Carrollton Gage are predicted to continue a steady fall to 3.0 feet on July 12, 2023.

The graphs below are the latest 2 and 16 Day river stage forecasts for Cairo (IL) and New Orleans (LA) as reproduced from NOAA’s National Weather Service website (today). Both projections indicate steady slow falls.

The highest crest in 2023 on the Carrollton Gage was recorded at 2400 hours on April 13, 2023 with 14.10 feet.