Flooding

Ill be curious to see if all this winters snow and the rain we have so far gets MN out of the drought stage. Does anyone have the link of where to go to check drought status?

crappie55369 wrote:

Does anyone have the link of where to go to check drought status?

Here you go. Its updated every Thursday morning. Parts of southwestern MN are still in stage 1 drought if you can believe that.

https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/CurrentMap/StateDroughtMonitor.aspx?MN

gimruis wrote:

Here you go. Its updated every Thursday morning. Parts of western MN are still in stage 1 drought if you can believe that.

https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/CurrentMap/StateDroughtMonitor.aspx?MN

thanks. thats incredible that there are still areas with drought in MN. Good to see that most of the middle and eastern portion is out of drought stage (assuming thats what none means). Looks like much of Kansas, Nebraska, and Oklahoma are still in extreme drought. I wonder how that will impact crops this year

crappie55369 wrote:

Looks like much of Kansas,

Western Kansas has received about 1.5 inches of moisture since last May. Its so parched there that the ground is cracking open.

buckybadger wrote:

The river definitely changes more rapidly than ever before. More fields are tiled than ever, and the growing population hubs and development create rapid runoff. This all then compounds to increase the sedimentation issues here on the river.

It used to take days for rainfall to really reach the river here along Pool 4 and create noticeable changes. Now one line of thunderstorms in the summer upstream changes everything by the next morning.

That was exactly what I was thinking.

Usually when the make new developments they have to offset with a holding pond. There is a new storage facility near my house that the entire parking lot is paved and they had to create several holding ponds since they essentially eliminated water able to seep into the ground.

I had some brief down time in the north metro yesterday and checked out the Mississippi at the Coon Rapids dam. It was RAGING! There was an enormous cottonwood tree stuck beneath the dam getting tossed around like a toothpick.

I got about 1.5 inches of rain last night and there is more coming today from the looks of it. Not good when things are already in a flood stage.

gimruis wrote:

I got about 1.5 inches of rain last night…

1.3″ at our house. I saw there was a swath of 2″ to the west (Hutch).

heavy rains and hail last night in Mound. raining hard again right now too

The forecast for the Wabasha gauge went up again overnight and pushed back the crest further. This should now confidently hit the #5 mark all time.

We’ve got about 8-10 acres of land currently under water. A neighbor kid came and asked permission to shove his flat bottom into our lowest lying field and shoot carp. I told him yes, so long as he invites me and I’ll pack something to eat. Keep in mind, this field is generally ~1.5 miles from the river…yet that’s how far things have flooded.

It absolutely downpoured last night in Carver in 2 different waves. The bridge to Jordan is going to be underwater very soon, likely tomorrow if not sometime later today.

buckybadger wrote:

A neighbor kid came and asked permission to shove his flat bottom into our lowest lying field and shoot carp.

How deep would you say the water there is in the field there?

gimruis wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>buckybadger wrote:</div>
A neighbor kid came and asked permission to shove his flat bottom into our lowest lying field and shoot carp.

How deep would you say the water there is in the field there?

3 feet or so, with about a foot more of water to come. There are thousands of acres that are much closer to the river and under probably 7-8′ of water for sure.

These fields have been under twice in 20 years. In 2001 people water skied the fields behind a runabout just to say they did.

buckybadger wrote:

In 2001 people water skied the fields behind a runabout just to say they did.

Haha that’s funny.

The drought gotta over, water standing everywhere in the fields

glenn57 wrote:

The drought gotta over, water standing everywhere in the fields

Our fields ate all the snow melt fast, but now are flooding pretty good

Updated drought monitor out this morning. Most of this rain/snow/moisture is not included until the next update, as the cut off is Tuesday morning. Still a fairly sizable portion of stage 1 drought in the SW corner.

https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/CurrentMap/StateDroughtMonitor.aspx?MN

The entire brown and yellow area has gotten hit heavy with this rain or is getting hit as we speak. Will be interesting to see where it is next week.

glenn57 wrote:

The drought gotta over, water standing everywhere in the fields

They used to say my uncle was a great farmer, he was often out standing in his field.

just read an article by an atmospheric scientist, said the drought last year was the result of La Nino………they expect an El Nino this summer…..plenty of rain for everyone!!!!!!!!

National Wetter Service forecasts more water.

Pushing the limits of structures is something I’m concerned about. Even if it’s manageable flood levels the dams, bridges, etc can have a weak link somewhere.

With that said I emailed a PM for the halls island reconstruction some years ago here in Mpls, was complaining about the new current flow pushing sediment into what would’ve been easy to see paths making for exiting the boom island launch nearly impossible for bigger boats. It was a low water year, but he mentioned that a section of the upper falls failed and was not keeping the pool at a normal level. Perhaps smoke up the poopshoot but always wonder those type of compromises under these flood flows could really exacerbate the damage.

Took a ride up to cabelas today. Took the backroads to have a look at the crow. Had to turn around 2 or 3 separate times because roads were underwater and closed

There is no normal right now. We are doing the 3rd Ave bridge a d it’s so insane it’s counted as dangerous

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If this continues, I think we are back to a year where the lawn has to be mowed once a week or more. Which will be a change from the past two hot summers. I think last summer I mowed 3 times the entire season.

I also wonder how bad the mosquitoes are going to be this year. Again, could be bad after a couple dry years where they weren’t that bad.

Didn’t early summer start kinda wet last year? Not sure that April weather tells us much about July.

It is going to be a late year to try and get planting done with the very cool temperatures. Corn should be starting to go in this week and be done by May 10 as more time goes by after the May 10 timeline yields are reduced. Seeding hay fields is normally done by now but have not even got a start yet, going to be crazy spring with this very late spring with such cool temperatures.

queenswake wrote:

I also wonder how bad the mosquitoes are going to be this year. Again, could be bad after a couple dry years where they weren’t that bad.

We’d already seen them in the yard here. I normally treat the whole yard, gardens and everything. Maybe twice each season if its real wet. I’m waiting to do this until we start to see some warmer temps and these crappy cold shots disappear.

Our yard could take a mowing already in a few spots but that too will wait until I get ready to do the fertilizer/crabgrass treatment. I’ll mow, then treat. Hopefully the morning rain is predicted.

All of the waters around this area are pretty tame right now except the Miss. Lake Zumbro went back in no wake mode with the last rain. That’s fine….it helps keep the idiots off the water.

Bearcat89 wrote:

There is no normal right now. We are doing the 3rd Ave bridge a d it’s so insane it’s counted as dangerous

That’s a cool pic, Bearcat. Are lifejackets part of the safety gear for the day?