Spring Outlook Could Include Flooding
Minnesota is truly the land of ice and snow. But soon it all will melt. And it has to go somewhere.
“The worst-case scenario is if it all of a sudden it warms up and it all melts at once,” said Corey Loveland, a hydrologist for the National Weather Service in Chanhassen.
Ripe Flood Conditions
Loveland says conditions are ripe for flooding in the Twin Cities.
“Anything can happen at this point in time.,” Loveland said. “We have the background conditions. The deep frost depths. The high soil moisture content. The amount of water within the snow.”
If the thermometer rises quickly and there a lot of spring precipitation, floods are likely.
“We want moderate temperatures so that it melts just a little bit each day then cools down at night,” Loveland said. “So we get a cyclical pattern of that melt and refreeze.”
BP Resident Hopes to Avoid Floods
Brooklyn Park resident Ken Platt lives near the Mississippi Rivers. As the crow flies his house is just 400 yards from the river banks.
“Try to hit it with a golf ball some times but no luck,” Platt joked.
However, Platt is not concerned about flooding, because he is not in a flood plain.
“That’s what I’m hoping and praying for,” Platt said. “That it goes elsewhere before it comes here.”
Elsewhere could be a spot such as River Park, just a few miles down stream from Platt’s house. River Park and other low-lying areas near rivers and streams could see flooding when there is finally a spring thaw.
