That's according to the first flood outlook from the National Weather Service office in Davenport.
Rich Kinney, Warning Coordination Meteorologist, says that does not mean there won't be any flooding along the Mississippi River and its tributaries. Just because the snowpack in the Quad Cities area has melted a lot, the snowpack in Minnesota hasn't melted yet. And it's storing an above average amount of water.
Variables include how fast the snow melts and how much rain falls this spring.
From now through April, Kinney and the weather service expect slightly above normal precipitation.
Other factors are the ground is only frozen a few inches deep. That'll allow melting snow and spring rain to be absorbed instead of running off into local rivers. And local rivers are at normal levels or slightly below normal levels.
At Lock and Dam 15 in the Quad Cities, the chance of the Mississippi River reaching flood stage is 51%, slightly lower than normal (56%). And the chance it'll reach major flood stage is 21% percent, also slightly lower than normal (25%).
By the way, the weather service plans to begin offering in person, spotter training classes for the first time since early 2020. Currently, more than 4,000 people serve as weather spotters across 36 counties.
The second spring flood outlook will be released in two weeks.
