We have been paying close attention to the Mississippi River these past few weeks. Low water levels, the lowest seen since 1988, are slowing barge traffic. This affects the cornbelt and almost every state between the Appalachians and the Rockies. It?s causing headaches for shipping goods up and down the river. Barges are getting stuck, and it is raising the costs for end users of grains and other goods.
The Northwest region of the United States has been in a drought for two years now, and this is wreaking havoc on the Missouri and Mississippi River basins. This, of course, means that barge shipping has had to adjust. USDA Meteorologist Brad Rippey talks about the situation from a weather standpoint.
Tropical Storm Karl is going to bring some much-needed rain into the lower Mississippi River region and into the southeast. However, that rain won?t do much to refill the dry riverbeds to the north and west.
In fact, the chances for rain in the Midwest and Pacific regions of the country are essentially, zip, nil, and nada.
The only thing we can really count on in this region is the potential for some more frost and freezes.
Cool and dry is fine for getting crops out of the field. Once that is done, we will be needing a lot of moisture very soon.
