Expect Continuation of Midwest Flooding this Summer, MU Climatologist Says

June 13, 2008

Story Contact:  Jennifer Faddis, (573)882-6217, FaddisJ@missouri.edu
Pat Guinan, (573)882-5908, GuinanP@missouri.edu

COLUMBIA, Mo. – The stage is set for flooding to continue in portions of the Missouri and Mississippi River Basins, according to a University of Missouri climatologist. In the past three weeks, six to 10 inches of rain have fallen across northern Kansas, eastern Nebraska, and northern and western Missouri. The extent of more flooding this summer is contingent on the current weather pattern and if the pattern is expect to persist into July.
 
“This is a situation that needs to be monitored carefully,” said Pat Guinan, assistant professor of climatology in the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources and an MU Extension climatologist with the Commercial Agriculture Program. “It is unlikely that this summer will match the flooding that occurred in 1993. Current Mississippi River flood forecasts for locations north of St. Louis to the Iowa border indicate that levels could, however, surpass the 1973 flood crests, which will make 2008 the second highest crest on record.”

In 1993, the worst flooding occurred in July when Iowa, Nebraska, the Dakotas, and Montana had their wettest July on record, and Missouri and Minnesota had their second wettest July. Northwest and north-central Missouri received between 15 and 25 inches of rainfall for July, which smashed all-time records for that month, Guinan said.

Guinan attended the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign where he received a bachelor’s degree in physical geography in 1986 and a master’s degree in atmospheric science in 1988. He came to the University of Missouri to continue his education in atmospheric science and serve as a climatologist with the Agricultural Experiment Station. Since 1996, he has been employed by MU’s Commercial Agriculture Program as a climatologist. Guinan received his doctorate in soil, environmental and atmospheric sciences in 2004. He also serves as the state climatologist for Missouri and director of the Missouri Climate Center. He also maintains and operates the Extension Commercial Agriculture Automated Weather Station Network, which consists of 25 automated weather stations in Missouri that monitor several environmental variables on a 5-minute, hourly and daily basis. Information on the network can be found at: http://agebb.missouri.edu/weather/stations/index.htm

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Note: To access a compilation of information resources for large river basins that impact Missouri, please go to the following link: http://agebb.missouri.edu/weather/river.htm