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 for today’s update that details low water stages from Cairo (IL) to Baton Rouge (LA).
“The temporary rises from the lower Ohio River continue to move downstream on the lower Mississippi River. The crest is approaching Arkansas City, AR today and will continue downstream through this weekend.
Rainfall has been lighter over the past week and the lower Ohio River has fallen 3 to 4 feet from the temporary rises from last week. The Cairo, IL stage was 14.5ft this morning and it is forecast to fall to near 10.0ft by early next week and reach similar levels from 2 1/2 weeks ago.
As falls continue on the lower Ohio River, lock and dam and power generation may cause one to two feet fluctuations on the lower Ohio River.
Over the next few days, one to three inches of rainfall is forecast over the lower Missouri Valley extending east through the Ohio Valley. The river models show this rainfall only slowing down the recessions and not generating additional rises.
The 16 day future rainfall model continues to show Cairo, IL falling through July and reaching 7.0ft by the first week of August.
Attached is a graphic comparing previous low water conditions to our lowest forecast stage in the next 28 days.” (Emphasis supplied)
The Carrolton Gage (New Orleans) reading at 1600 hours today was 2.87 feet with a 24-hour change of + 0.23 feet.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Weather Service Extended Streamflow Prediction (28-Day) for the Carrollton Gage issued today forecasts stages will continue a slow rise to 3.2 feet and then resume a slow fall to 2.3 feet on August 9 (2023). The highest crest in 2023 on the Carrollton Gage was recorded at 2400 hours on April 13, 2023 with 14.10 feet.
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).
