News

Low Mississippi River levels again

A hydrologist with the National Weather Service in western Kentucky says water levels on the lower Mississippi River are low again as the new crop marketing year begins.

Mary Lamm tells Brownfield it’s not unusual for this time of the year and she’s not too concerned yet.

“It’s the third year in a row that we’ve done this where we’ve had a very wet summer and then, all of a sudden the water turns off and rivers start falling.”

She says river levels are expected to get lower in the next 10 days if there’s a lack of significant rainfall.

“Right now, we’re not forecasting any of the levels we’ve seen the last few years. We should stay three to four feet higher than those levels, but that can change.”

Lamm says the Army Corps of Engineers have started discussions about low river levels near Memphis and it might be a worse situation between there and New Orleans as fall begins.