Mississippi River above official flood stage in Baton Rouge

BATON ROUGE, LA (WAFB) - The Mississippi River is certainly running high, even by February standards. However, there is nothing to be overly concerned about, at least for the time being.

The latest projections from the experts at the NWS Lower Mississippi River Forecast Center (LMRFC) keep the Mississippi at Baton Rouge above official flood stage (35 ft) into the middle of the month before it shows a substantial fall in water levels.

While flood stage is 35 ft at Baton Rouge, levees contain the river well above 40 feet. The LMRFC’s forecast ‘error range’ remains well below that, according to a river stage forecast graphic.

#WAFBFirstAlert Mississippi River at #BatonRouge:
- high water lingers into mid-month
- another surge of water comes downriver in late February
- no serious concerns for now#LAwx pic.twitter.com/c35a3JDOEi
— Jay Grymes (@Jay_WAFB) February 3, 2019

“Snowpack in the upper reaches of the Mississippi, Missouri, and Ohio basins doesn’t look to be all that unusual for this time of year. Therefore, we are not worried about rapid snowmelt sending a flooding surge of water downriver.”

The NWS Weather Prediction Center (WPC) is currently calling for a very wet week for the central Mississippi and lower Ohio basins. As a rough estimate, about 70 percent of the water that flows past Baton Rouge, on average, comes out of the Ohio. With that, next week’s forecasted slug of rain to our north explains much/most of the river’s expected rise in the latter half of February. Indeed, the LMRFC has Baton Rouge climbing back above flood stage by/before month’s end.

So there isn’t a need to be concerned, but it is something that the Storm Team will be watching in the coming weeks.