The result were numerous large thunderstorm complexes propagating across eastern Oklahoma, Arkansas, southern Missouri, western Tennessee, and northeast along the entire Ohio River basin, leaving considerable rainfall totals. Deep tropical moisture surged northward, intersecting this boundary and transient weather disturbances. However, as the hydrographs indicate, this first round was slow to recede and the events leading up to the catastrophic event were worse because of the already swollen river and its tributaries.Ī very stagnant pattern and a quasi-stationary front along the Ohio River basin persisted for the last half of April 2011. Mostly minor flooding occurred along the Mississippi in the Midsouth with this spring thaw without creating too many problems. The snowpack melted in late February and March when it drained down the Mississippi River. The storm left a snow depth of 2 to 3 feet over an expansive area across the Mid Mississippi Valley and western Great Lakes. Racine, Wisconsin observed 26 inches of snow during the event, breaking the city’s 48-hour and 72-hour snowfall records. At Chicago's O’Hare Airport, the 20.2 inches of snow was the third largest storm accumulation ever recorded for the city. The largest snow amounts occurred across northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin on the 2 nd.

The storm began across the Southern Plains on February 1 st, where it dropped 1 to 2 feet of snow across Texas, Oklahoma, and Missouri. The Groundhog Day Blizzard was the most powerful of winter storms to impact that region. Many cities near the headwaters of the Mississippi River in Minnesota and across much of the western Great Lakes and Upper Midwest experienced 50 to 75% higher than normal seasonal snowfall. This led to an anomalously high number of powerful winter storms across the Upper Midwest. The prevailing weather pattern of winter 2010/2011 featured a trough over the Plains and Upper Midwest, bringing a storm track through the center of the nation. How this flood compared to previous events River Stages, Records, and Impacts for the Mississippi River Meteorological/Hydrological Antecedent Conditions

Great Mississippi River Flood of Spring 2011Ĭomparing with May 4, 2012.

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