Temps rebound nicely this week; some river levels will fall

The Mississippi River was expected to reach it's spring crest at St. Paul Sunday evening. It seems appropriate that a few snowflakes floated down from the skies like celebratory confetti early Sunday evening in parts of the metro area.

We can now look forward to a slowly-falling Mississippi River level at St. Paul as we go through this week.

River levels

You can click on any location on the NWS Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service  (AHPS) site to get hydrographs of recent and forecast river levels. Some locations list levels in feet above sea level, others list levels in feet above a local reference point.

Here’s the Sunday evening hydrograph for the Mississippi River at St. Paul:

The Mississippi River is at the eighth highest level ever recorded at the St. Paul gauge:

Here’s a late Sunday afternoon look at the flooding at Harriet Island in St. Paul:

A late Sunday afternoon view of the Wabasha Street Bridge, with partially flooded Raspberry Island down below:

Here are a couple of Mississippi River flooding pictures from earlier on Sunday, in St. Paul:

Shepard Road in St. Paul:

Many locations along our Minnesota rivers remain at major or moderate flood stage. There are numerous flood warnings in effect. You can get flood warning updates by clicking on any location on the National Weather Service Twin Cities website.  Areas with flood warnings are shaded green on the NWS main page; here’s how the map looked Sunday evening:

The latest flood warnings for northwestern Minnesota can be found on the NWS Grand Forks, N.D. site. Here’s how their map looked Sunday evening:

The St. Croix River is expected to crest at Stillwater, Minnesota on Monday. Here’s the Sunday evening hydrograph for the St. Croix River at Stillwater:

The Minnesota River at New Ulm will continue to rise until late Tuesday:

Projected river levels are updated on a regular basis, so check back to the AHPS site and the NWS point forecasts for the latest info on the rivers near you. The NWS also posts some flooding details here.

If you’d like to scroll through hydrographs along a certain river, check here.

Rain and snow chances

Periods of sprinkles/flurries/light snow showers are possible in central and southern Minnesota and parts of western Wisconsin Sunday evening.

Far southern Minnesota could see some rain/snow showers late Monday.

We don't need rain right now, with river levels so high. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Global Forecast System model shows most of the rain sliding to our south Wednesday and Thursday:

The color chart to the right of the loop refers to the precipitation rate (mm per hour), not to the total amount of rain or snow.

As always, updated weather information can be heard on the Minnesota Public Radio Network, and you’ll also see updated weather info on the MPR News live weather blog.

Temperature trends

Monday afternoon highs are expected to reach the 40s across most of Minnesota and western Wisconsin:

Twin Cities metro area highs are projected to reach the mid 50s on Tuesday and lower 50s Wednesday, followed by mid 50s Thursday and upper 50s Friday. It looks like we could top out in the 60s next weekend.

Visitors in town next weekend for the Final Four basketball tournament will appreciate the mild temps!