The heavy snow that had much of Iowa in the grip of a serious emergency one week ago is melting away. One observer who says it’s melting too fast for comfort is National Weather Service forecaster Mike Gillespie.

Gillespie foresees flood problems, especially on the Little Floyd and Little Sioux rivers in northwest Iowa. This morning the snowpack was ten to 20 inches deep and the ground, and the meteorologist says it contained the equivalent of three inches of rain. The forecast over the weekend is for slowly warming days but cold nights.

Having the colder overnight lows will help slow down the melting but Gillespie says it’s still going to be happening pretty quick over the next three to five days. He says flooding isn’t just likely, it’s inevitable.

By early next week he says rivers will start going up, and by mid-week he expects to start seeing waters above flood stage in some rivers and creeks. Parts of the state got rain today, and by Tuesday, some areas are forecast to see highs above sixty degrees.