Forecasts are now showing that major flooding is coming to areas along the Mississippi River in Iowa. Those flood waters could reach major stage by early April.

In early March, forecasters said there was a greater than 95% chance of the river reaching major flood stage. The latest forecast now has the river cresting at 21.9 feet by April 4th. The river will likely go even higher than that with more snow melt making its way south. The peak of flooding is expected to be between April 8th and 18th.

The flooding is being caused by the huge snowpack in the Upper Midwest that is rapidly melting. There were still large swaths of 5-6 " of water locked up in the snow. In the last week, much of that snow has melted and that water is now heading down the Mississippi River. To add insult to injury, the National Weather Service is also predicting a wetter than normal spring forecast for the coming weeks. Combine the rains with the snowmelt and 'unprecedented' flooding is a real possibility.

Flood warnings continue along the Mississippi River.


[via CBS2]