Mississippi River expected to reach major flood level at Cape Girardeau
The latest river stage forecast was released this afternoon and shows a dramatic rise in the Mississippi River at Cape Girardeau.
The river, currently sitting at 30.5 ft., is now expected to jump to 40 ft. by Tuesday morning and then crest at around 43 ft. on Friday. This forecast takes into account the heavy rain poised to arrive this weekend.
If the river does indeed hit 43.0 feet, it would represent the 12th highest crest on record at Cape Girardeau. (The all-time record came Jan. 2 of last year when the river made it to 48.86 ft.)
The computer models continue to crank out prodigious amounts of rainfall over the weekend, althought the axis of heaviest rain has been nudged slightly to the northwest of Cape Girardeau. That's still a lot of rain that will drain into the Mississippi.
And of course we still have the threat of severe thunderstorms. We are in the Enhanced Risk zone for both today and tomorrow, and the Slight Risk zone for Sunday.
Large hail is the greatest hazard for today's storms, although high winds and tornadoes are on the board too. This map shows the risk for large hail:
Welcome to spring time in Missouri, where April showers bring May insurance claims.
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