Spring Thaw and Flood

It's that time of year again: flood season. Since so many of you have asked, I've embedded Grand Forks' flood cam in this post:

Streaming .TV shows by Ustream
To offer some perspective, I've included a screen grab of the flood cam as of 7:30 am today:


As you can see the bridge is still open and the Mighty Red River of the North is still largely within its banks. The flood obelisk is just to the right of center immediately to the left of the electrical pole on the right side of the bridge. As you can see it's in the water, but that's not too unusual or scary. The crest is predicted for early next week and to be between 47 and 49 feet. Apparently the long, early thaw combined with a snowy winter and relatively damp March has caused the major problems this year. Current predictions put the crest safely inside the to 10 historic crests:

Historic Crests1) 54.35 feet - April 22, 1997
2) 50.20 feet - April 10, 1897
3) 49.34 feet - April 1, 2009
4) 48.81 feet - April 26, 1979
5) 48.00 feet - April 18, 1882
6) 47.93 feet - April 6, 2006
7) 47.41 feet - April 16, 2006
8) 45.93 feet - April 21, 1996
9) 45.73 feet - April 11, 1978
10) 45.69 feet - April 16, 1969
Source: National Weather Service via Grand Forks Herald

I guess there is some worry about ice jams -- or at least that was the topic of conversation last night at dinner. If you want to know as much as we do out here, check out the Grand Forks Herald's flood page. We'll do all we can to stay dry and hope the best for our friends to the south.