Unexpected heat is leading to faster snow melt. Here's the flood outlook for Minnesota
The unexpected spasm of hot weather continues across southern Minnesota where more temperature records could be set.
Southern Minnesota saw snow less than two weeks ago, and that rapidly melting snow is flooding some roads in western Minnesota.
Several roads in Big Stone and Stevens Counties have been washed out because of high water. Governor Walz spoke to media Wednesday afternoon about the state's spring flood outlook and statewide preparations.
For a better picture of what to expect, Craig Schmidt joined MPR News host Cathy Wurzer. Craig is a hydrologist with the National Weather Service in the Twin Cities.
Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.
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Audio transcript
Governor Walz will talk to the media in a half hour from now about the state's spring flood outlook and statewide preparations. Stillwater on the St. Croix River is bracing for high water. Mayor Ted Kozlowski spoke to TV yesterday about the city's sandbagging efforts.
TED KOZLOWSKI: Well, really, for the last couple of weeks, we've been working on this enormous levee that basically spans from one end of town to the other. You can see it's about 12 feet wide, about eight, 10 feet high, depending on where we're at. And it's a pretty substantial effort, again, especially for a small town like ours.
Sandbagging here is like a badge of honor. People's grandparents did it in the '60s. People's parents did it. Everybody wants to sign up and do it. It's kind of like a hot ticket, a hot concert ticket, to get a volunteer spot.
CATHY WURZER: To give us a better picture of what to expect when it comes to flooding, Craig Schmidt's on the line. He's a hydrologist with the National Weather Service office in the Twin Cities. Hey, Craig. Thanks for being here.
CRAIG SCHMIDT: Sure thing.
CATHY WURZER: So we just heard from the mayor of Stillwater about this huge sandbag levee that they've built. When can we expect, say, the St. Croix River to overflow?
CRAIG SCHMIDT: Yeah, so currently, it's about 82 feet. Flood stage is 87. So it's got about 5 more feet to go to hit minor flood stage. And we should be seeing that level by, oh, late in the weekend or early Monday morning.
It would then continue up a couple more feet, and we're looking at a crest sometime in the middle to late part of next week. And that would-- right now looking to be right around 89 feet, which is the major flood stage for Stillwater.
CATHY WURZER: Do when the last time they've been at major flood stage? Was it, what, in the '90s?
CRAIG SCHMIDT: Let's see.
CATHY WURZER: Hard to know.
CRAIG SCHMIDT: Yeah, give me just a-- the last time--
CATHY WURZER: I'm thinking it was probably maybe even a little--
CRAIG SCHMIDT: 2001.
CATHY WURZER: Yeah, OK.
CRAIG SCHMIDT: 2001 would have been the last time they hit that, and then '97.
CATHY WURZER: So it hasn't been seen for quite a while.
CRAIG SCHMIDT: Correct, yes.
CATHY WURZER: Let's talk about some of the ingredients that are making this a significant flooding season compared to other years. When it comes to at least the St. Croix, of course, we've got a big snowpack that is still in place in Northern Minnesota. Talk about that.
CRAIG SCHMIDT: Yeah, so the snowpack this year was just incredible. The amount of water in that snowpack was between 7 and 10 inches in the upper St. Croix River this year. And it was also very widespread across all of the basins from Minnesota and Wisconsin.
So once that started melting and started melting fast, it has caused such rapid rises. We've also been seeing a lot of ice in the rivers that's working its way out and causing rapid fluctuations as well. But all of that snow, it was just an extraordinary snowpack. It was a top five snowpack for this area. And so that's a lot of fuel for spring flooding. And so that's been, of course, the main cause behind all of this.
CATHY WURZER: Now, of course, we've got temperatures in the 90s in Southern Minnesota-- cooler across Northern Minnesota. How is the melt happening right now in that northern watershed? Is it as slow as you need it to be, or is the warmer weather messing that up a little bit?
CRAIG SCHMIDT: Yeah, the warmer weather is definitely taking a toll. It's really, really, really causing it to melt quickly, given the warm low temperatures at night as well. So we're not even getting a break at nighttime. It's staying above freezing, and so it's melting 24/7. So it's all coming down really, really fast. And so that's been causing the issues.
CATHY WURZER: All right. Craig Schmidt, thank you so much. I appreciate your time.
CRAIG SCHMIDT: Certainly.
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