River expected to rise to near flood stage

The latest forecast for the Mississippi River at Cape Girardeau calls for the water level to jump nearly 18 feet by the end of the week. By Friday, the river stage is projected to reach 31.2 feet, just shy of flood stage of 32 feet.

While the forecast for Cape doesn't go beyond Friday, the forecast for the gage at Chester extends to March 24. That forecast shows the river quickly dropping after it crests later this week, a pattern that should be echoed at Cape.

This is quite a dramatic turn of events after months of worrying about low river levels threatening barge traffic. It appears that much of the extra water is coming from the melting of the big snowfall that hit northwestern Missouri. However, the forecast for the next 7 days shows only limited precipitation in the Mississippi and Missouri river watersheds, so this boost in the river level might be short-lived.