Mississippi River Map

The map above updates at :20 and :50 past the hour. Click on the map to obtain detailed river forecast information. ...

Tangipahoa River ',LEFT, CAPTION,' Amite/Comite Lake Pontchatrain River Basins ... [Read More]

Lead Map for Missisippi Naitonal River and Reacreation Area
The Mississippi National River and Recreation Area was established by Congress in 1988. Its boundaries include a 72-mile stretch of Mississippi River from Ramsey and Dayton in the north to just south of Hastings. This 72-mile corridor includes many parks, agencies, organizations and communities intimately tied to the Mississippi River. ...

Section Maps ... [Read More]

Mississippi River
The Upper Mississippi River flows 1,462 kilometers from St. Anthony Falls in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to the mouth of the Ohio River at Cairo, Illinois (Fig. 2). The major period of valley scouring began about 15,000 years ago when the Wisconsin Glacier began to melt, increasing river flow ( Schwartz and Thiel 1963 ; Wright 1972 , 1989; Matsch 1976 ; Ojakangas and Matsch 1982 ). About 12,700 years ago, the retreating Wisconsin Glacier blocked the northward drainage routes of its meltwaters toward Hudson Bay, forming glacial Lake Agassiz. This huge lake spilled over its southern rim for about 2,700 years, forming the glacial River Warren and carving the large valley now occupied by the Minnesota River. The River Warren was much larger than the present Minnesota River but carried little sediment. The glacial St. Croix River provided additional sediment-free overflow from Lake Duluth (glacial Lake Superior). The combined flow of the two rivers greatly increased the erosive capacity of t ... [Read More]

Welcome to Upper Miss NWR
The creation of the Refuge was largely the result of the Izaak Walton League, and in particular, the efforts of its founder and leader, Will Dilg. Dilg, an advertising executive in Chicago and an avid angler and lover of the outdoors, formed the Izaak Walton League in 1922. For nearly two decades, Dilg had spent much of the summer fishing and enjoying the Upper Mississippi River. In the summer of 1923, he learned of a plan to drain a large portion of the river backwaters and came up with an ambitious solution to the drainage scheme: turn the entire stretch of river into a federal refuge. Remarkably, one year later, due to Dilg’s determination, Congress passed the Upper Mississippi River Wild Life and Fish Refuge Act on June 7, 1924. The act authorized the acquisition of land for a refuge between Rock Island, Illinois and Wabasha, Minnesota. ... [Read More]

National Weather Service Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service
Click on a point or river on the map or select from the menus below. ...

National Significant River Flood Outlook ...

River Forecast Centers ... [Read More]

About the Lower Mississippi River Forecast Center
The Lower Mississippi River Forecast Center was founded in 1971 in concert with the efforts to fund the Alaska River Forecast Center , and officially commenced operations in January of 1972. No single flood event can be identified as motivating the formation of this RFC. Instead, its startup resulted from the need to complete the coverage of the Nation by RFCs and to provide coordinated forecasts for the economically critical lower Mississippi basin. Since it commenced operation, the LMRFC responsibility area of over 209,000 square miles has essentially remained unchanged. After it was formed, the LMRFC was the first to demonstrate the routine use of the nationally-supported operational forecast system which would eventually become the NWS River Forecast System (NWSRFS). ... [Read More]

River Watch - Lower Mississippi River Basin
The National Weather Service continues to create easier ways for you to receive your hydrologic information. The River Watch Mississippi River Basin site is an example of this desire. As this site evolves, it will include data in a consistently formatted product. In the mean time, please send us your comments so that we can better serve you. ... [Read More]

Middle Mississippi River National Wildlife Refuge: History
As European settlers arrived in the 19th century, large tracts of floodplain forest and prairie were lost the agriculture and other development. The Mississippi River became an increasingly important travel and trade route so Congress authorized a series of navigation improvements to be implemented by the Corps of Engineers. Thousands of wing dams and side channel closing dams were built to constrict the main channel and increase its depth. In 1930, construction began on a series of locks and dams to provide a 9-foot-deep navigation channel for heavy barge traffic. These dams created a series of 26 navigation pools extending from St. Paul, Minnesota to St. Louis, Missouri. The Corps was also given flood control responsibilities and assisted landowners in building levees that isolated the river from its historic floodplain except during extremely high floods. ... [Read More]

Middle Mississippi River National Wildlife Refuge: Home
The original lands comprising the Middle Mississippi River National Wildlife Refuge were purchased in response to the 1993 Flood after the failure of various private levees. The refuge currently includes approximately 4,300 acres on four divisions: Harlow Island, Wilkinson Island, Meissner Island, and Beaver Island. These divisions are located along 60 miles of the Mississippi River south of St. Louis, Missouri. ...

The primary management goal of Middle Mississippi River NWR is to restore habitats that have been lost or degraded as a result of modifications to the flood plain and the river. Major habitat types include bottomland forest, wetlands, and aquatic areas. ... [Read More]