Driven by months of drought and periods of extreme heat during the summer and fall months in 2022, very low to record low river stages developed along the Lower Ohio and Mississippi Rivers in this area.
This month, levels on the Mississippi River from the Ohio-Mississippi River confluence at Cairo to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, were so low that commercial activities such as barge traffic and riverboats were experiencing difficulty navigating portions of the river.
The Ohio River at Cairo now measures under seven feet and is forecast to fall below six feet in the coming days.
The Mississippi River at New Madrid is down to four feet and the Wabash River at New Harmony, Indiana is under a foot.
