Flood concerns grow with spring warmup, rain around corner

Dana Fulton by Dana Fulton

With the start of spring less than two weeks away, all eyes are on the waterways of Wisconsin and the potential for flooding in the coming months.

The North Central River Forecast Center released the second and final 2019 Spring Flood and Water Resources Outlook on March 6. The consensus is there is an “above to much above normal chance” for flooding this spring for southern Wisconsin, especially in southwest Wisconsin.

The NCRFC analyzes several factors to produce the hydrologic outlook. From soil moisture to temperatures, each plays a piece in forecasting spring flooding. The amount of precipitation for February 2019 is a large factor in the outlook. Precipitation totals were well above normal for most of the northern Plains and Midwest.

In fact, parts of Wisconsin saw 200% to 300% more precipitation than average during February.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s long-range outlooks for river flooding highlight several river gauges in southern Wisconsin with at least a 50% chance of exceeding river flood levels during March, April or May.

A closer look at each river gauge and the forecasted timeline for flooding can be found here .

For the near future, the National Weather Service in Milwaukee is monitoring the Fox, Pecatonica and Sugar rivers. All three are expected to cross into flood stage within the next week. For the Fox River, the concern is at New Munster; for the Pecatonica River; at Martintown; and the Sugar River, at Brodhead.

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