Does Dry Fall Presage Flood-Free Spring 2002?

It was not only warmer than usual this fall, it was drier. Bill Gretten with the U-S Army Corps of Engineers keeps an eye on the likelihood of flooding, and he says it’s too early to tell if there’ll be flooding in the spring, as it’ll depend how much snow falls in the winter and how fast it melts. A year ago, the Mississippi River was low and things were dry, and Gretten says it looked then like was no chance of flooding in the spring. But by the end of winter, there was thick ice and deep wet snow that melted fast last year, and that caused disastrous flooding.