NWS: Minnesota, western Wisconsin at higher risk for flooding this spring
MINNEAPOLIS -- We have our first look at the spring flood forecast. The National Weather Service says the flood risk in Minnesota and western Wisconsin is slightly higher than normal.
The NWS team considers things like the long-range forecast, winter snowpack and pre-winter conditions when it builds out risk factors.
Our summer drought may actually be doing us a favor on this one because the snowpack we have right now is significant. With the dry conditions we had in our warmer months, it appears there's somewhere for all that melting snow to go.
Another interesting thing this year: the ground isn't as frozen as in other years.
Mike Augustinak explains that all the snow we've had insulates the ground - it's the same thing that's happened to our lake ice - and that actually helps to lower the overall flood risk despite that deep snowpack.
"It certainly could change if we were to add another few feet of snow over the next few weeks and then a warmup right after that, that would be something that would change things," said Craig Schmidt, Senior Service Hydrologist with NWS Twin Cities.
Experts say the combo of our drought - followed by a lot of snow - appears to be evening out in the end.
"Nothing is really standing out at this point it's probably going to take some kind of winter storms or a major warmup or something like that to really set things going," said Schmidt.
Homeowners considering flood insurance should start looking now. Schmidt says your policy needs 30 days to kick in so now's the time to make that decision.
