- Sep 23, 2018

ANOTHER ROUND OF FLOODING...

You typically don't associate the fall equinox with flooding, but rivers are rising for the second time this month.

September has been a wet month for the Midwest. In fact, Waterloo, Iowa has had 11.75 inches of rain - already it's wettest September ON RECORD! And there's still over a week to go in the month. This past week's heavy rain took Waterloo over that edge.

Heavy rain fell in northern Iowa and southern Minnesota, on the watersheds of the Cedar an Turkey rivers. The Turkey crested and water levels are falling now in northeastern Iowa. The Cedar River will crest over the next few days. It will start in Cedar Falls...

Saturday night the river was close to cresting and was over 95 feet. This crest is the sixth highest crest on record in Cedar Falls. This is still well below the record crest of 102.1 feet which happened in 2008. The river will crest in Waterloo, Vinton, and then Cedar Rapids into next week.

This crest will not be in the top 10 crests and will be around half the height of the historic 2008 crest (of 31.12 feet).

Additionally the Wapsipinicon, Iowa and Mississippi Rivers will be rising through the week. Here's the forecast for the Wapsi near DeWitt.

And the Iowa near Wapello...

The water will be moving fast along these rivers as the rivers do crest and then drop. The good news is there isn't rain expected over the next few days with the dry, cool air in place now. The next five days of rainfall look like this:

Under an inch of rain as the air is much drier now - especially compared to what we've had this summer. This will allow for the rivers to fall and won't change the crest forecasts much, if at all.

Otherwise it is going to be nice, cool and comfortable. Temperatures will be right around average once again Sunday.