Flood water converging at St. Paul

The Crow River is rushing into the Mississippi upstream from St. Paul. While the crest on the Minnesota continues to move toward Shakopee. Toss in the high volume of water moving down the St. Croix and we see the stage level continuing to rise at St. Paul.

Early in this flood forecast, going back to December of 2009, officials commented that they were preparing for the worst and hoping for the best. After all the cards were played out, we were fortunate not having to deal with a widespread generous rainfall as the unseasonably mild weather rapidly melted the snow.

More than four to seven inches of snow water equivalent laid in the snow pack in western Minnesota as on the first of March. In a little less than two weeks that snow disappeared and flowed swiftly into the tributaries. Some of the moisture seeped into the soil as frost dissolved from the ground.

On the St. Croix River the crest should occur at Stillwater very close to flood stage at mid week.

In the Metro, the large volume of water from the Crow is being dumped into the Mississippi as the crest has moved through Delano. The third highest crest on record at Delano.

The Minnesota River will crest abot eight feet above flood stage at Shakopee impacting highway 101. On Monday we'll watch the flow at St. Paul to see how it will impact the rise on the Mississippi at Hastings later in the week. The snow melt flood of 2010 is about to head south.

Monitor the river stages at this site by clicking on the data point of interest.

Looking ahead to the precipitation potential for the next five days, we see that the weather systems, holding significant moisture, will likely remain to our south.

Anticipated water content of precipitation in the next five days.

While we perhaps didn't dodge a bullet, we were not badly wounded. Preparation and coordination minimized the damage.

CE