Barge season begins...
The
ice on the Mississippi River has broken up enough to
allow for barge traffic to begin moving upstream.
This is significant in this area because it
officially signals the end of the winter weather.
We had a significant blizzard in December and we
never had a mid-winter melt. This means the snow
accumulated all winter and we eventually had the
fourth snowiest winter on record.
This creates flooding concerns up and down the
Mississippi River, but just as the days starting
getting longer, we sunk into a prolonged period of
weather that hovered around the 32 degree mark. This
slowed the melting substantially and the river
crested to just below the flood point. Another crest
is expected in about three weeks when the run-off
from up north reaches this area.
This photo is taken from the Eisenhower
Bridge.