The Mississippi River Is Drying Up, Low water levels in Mississippi Slows Barge Traffic.
The Mississippi River Is Drying Up, Low water levels in Mississippi Slows Barge Traffic. Mississippi river drying up 2022. Mississippi river. Low Water Level.
The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it flows generally south for 2,340 miles to the Mississippi River Delta in the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi’s watershed drains all or parts of 32 U.S. states and two Canadian provinces between the Rocky and Appalachian mountains. The main stem is entirely within the United States; the total drainage basin is 1,151,000 square miles, of which only about one percent is in Canada. The Mississippi ranks as the thirteenth-largest river by discharge in the world. The river either borders or passes through the states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Across the river basin, dozens of gauges have fallen below their low-water threshold. The Mississippi River was at historically low levels from Illinois to Louisiana this week, and many of these gauges will continue to see decreasing water levels as the forecast remains stubbornly dry. A drone video of the Mississippi River near Memphis shows how far the mighty river has contracted away from its banks. The river dropped to minus-10 feet there earlier this week, according to data from the National Weather Service, which was the lowest level ever recorded in Memphis. Drought expanded again this week across the Midwest and South, according to the US Drought Monitor. Half of the contiguous US is covered by moderate or worse drought conditions – the third-highest value of the year so far and the highest since March. More than 134 million people are affected by drought conditions, the monitor reports, which is the highest percent population since 2016.
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