File:Mississippi River Level Struggles to Recover from Record Lows (MODIS 2024-03-11).jpg

English: February 23, 2024 October 17, 2023

Months of little rain and excessive heat parched the Mississippi River in the summer and early fall of 2023. On October 17, the National Weather Service reported that the Mississippi River in Memphis, Tennessee fell to -11.5 feet, a record low elevation. That beat the record low of -10.81 feet set at that same location in 2022. Other records were set in 2023, including at Cairo, Illinois and New Madrid, Missouri.

Water levels in the Mississippi typically rise and fall with the seasons, and it’s not uncommon for the river to run low during the late fall and early autumn—but not to the extreme level seen in 2023. The lack of water in the Mississippi River had widespread impacts, including stopping barge movements in some locations, putting a damper on grain shipments. Low water levels also allowed saltwater intrusion into wells in parts of Louisiana, threatening drinking water supplies.

Springtime brings showers, strong precipitation-filled storms, and rising temperatures that melt snowpack. In spring, the rivers and rivulets along the Mississippi basin fill to the brim, and much of the wet abundance finds its way to the Mississippi River, which rises high and often floods in the southern reaches of the river. This Mississippi refresh has been a slow go in 2024.

According to the 2024 Spring Flood Outlook published by the National Weather Service on February 29, the river conditions along the Mississippi were near average, with the risk of spring flooding below average. Most of the region was in a drought status in September 2023 and while heavy rains have helped improve conditions in some locations, significant areas of drought still prevail, especially in Iowa. In contrast, precipitation maps show that the parts of the southern Mississippi region (Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana) have had a wetter spring than usual.

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite acquired a false-color image of the southern Mississippi River on February 23, 2024. It is paired with a Terra MODIS image acquired on October 17, 2023, to help illustrate the difference between the “near average” level in 2024 and the record low level set on October 17, 2023. This type of image helps separate water (blue) from vegetation (bright green) and open land (tan).

The meandering Mississippi River is easily visible in the center of the February 23, 2024, image. The blue waters also appear to be constrained within its banks, without flooding. Several tributaries, including the Arkansas River (west) appear quite broad, likely filled by the heavy rains that drenched Arkansas in February. Clicking on the October 17, 2024, date reveals quite a different scene. Here, the Mississippi River appears as a thin blue thread meandering across a dry tan valley. While several lakes are evident, few tributaries are visible.