Apparently, the north central part of the country did not get much rain this year, and the Mississippi River is running at very low levels. No flooding is good news, but if the level gets much lower, it will stop barge traffic and damage the U.S. economy. ‘America is going to shut down if we shut down’: The Mississippi River’s water levels are near record lows, and it’s wreaking havoc on one of the U.S.’s most critical supply chains
This winter's snowfall forecast. Good news and bad news for the Mississippi assuming that the forecast is accurate. On the positive side when the snow melts next spring water levels on the Mississippi should rise significantly. The negative is that the same factor also increases the possibility of flooding especially if the spring snowmelt is accompanied by above average rainfall.
Looks like a nor’easter winter on the east coast based in that map. For us, those are far and away the biggest snowfalls we get.
Apparently, they are building a levee or sill to stop saltwater intrusion on the river: As the Mississippi River plunges, the Army Corps is building a 1,500-foot-wide levee to keep salt water out of drinking water | CNN
underwater speed bump to keep the denser salt water back.. designed to be temporary, The corps announced last week it would dredge sediment from the bottom of the river and pile it up near Myrtle Grove, Louisiana, to create what’s known as a sill, which will act as a dam for the denser saltwater in the lower levels of the river. Ricky Boyett, Army Corps chief of public affairs for the New Orleans District, said the “toe” of the saltwater wedge is already approaching the location of the planned sill. The sill will be roughly 40 to 50 feet high underwater in a location where the water is around 90 feet deep. It will take another week until the sill can be built high enough to block the saltwater intrusion, he said, and it “is designed to be temporary.” Boyett explained that the river’s low flow is the main problem right now. “When it falls below 300,000 cubic feet per second, it doesn’t have enough force to keep the saltwater at bay,” Boyett said. The flow rate just north of the planned sill has been running around or below 200,000 cubic feet per second for more than a week, according to data from the US Geological Survey.
What did we discuss about using common sense? That is not the American way, dammit! In America, we make no provision for bad scenarios, scramble to throw something half-ass together when it goes south, and blame the opposing political party exclusively as if we played no role. Love it or leave it!
We are finally getting rain here. We have had more rain today so far today than the previous 60 days combined. We are 50% below annual averages but 2 years ago we were almost double the annual average, so some big swings.
Was thinking the same thing. Wasn't that long ago I was reading articles regarding diverting Miss water to offset the lost Colorado river water. Around and around we go.
Army Corps of Engineers has been using three dredging vessels to keep the Mississippi navigable in the St. Louis area for the last six months, and it looks like the crisis is finally over. The US Army has been dredging the Mississippi River 24/7 for 6 months. The drought crisis that grounded barges and unearthed fossils may finally be over. (yahoo.com)
