Environment

Mississippi up to 10 feet at La Crosse, for the first time in two years

Published

2 years ago

May 23, 2022

A Mississippi River streak in La Crosse for days under the 10-foot stage just ended.

In records that date back to 1937, the Mississippi at La Crosse just set the fourth-longest stretch under 10 feet at 759 days — from April 20, 2020 to May 18, 2022.

May be an image of ‎text that says '‎Rank 1 2 3 4 5 Longest Stretches of Days Below 10 feet for the Mississippi River at La Crosse, WI (1937-2022) of Days Begin Date End Date 1691 10/20/1986 6/6/1991 1356 7/10/1957 3/26/1961 1049 5/23/1979 1979 4/5/1982 1037 6/6/1962 4/7/1965 759 4/20/2020 5/18/2022 747 4/14/2006 4/29/2008 734 4/10/1939 4/12/1941 730 4/13/1976 4/12/1978 718 4/9/1948 3/27/1950 706 5/11/1994 4/15/1996 1996 6 7 8 و 10‎'‎

The National Weather Service — La Crosse reported only four other stretches where the Mississippi River remained under 10 feet at La Crosse for a longer time, including just before the record 1965 flood.

The longest period of water below 10 feet lasted nearly 1,700 days — from October of 1986 to June of 1991 — including a major dry spell in the summer of 1988.

The river could crest at 10.7 feet on Tuesday.

As long as the river is over 10 feet, the area in La Crosse will be “Slow no wake.”

Brad Williams

A native of Prairie du Chien, Brad graduated from UW - La Crosse and has worked in radio news for more than 30 years, mostly in the La Crosse area. He regularly covers local courts and city and county government. Brad produces the features "Yesterday in La Crosse" and "What's Buried on Brad's Desk." He also writes the website "Triviazoids," which finds odd connections between events that happen on a certain date, and he writes and performs with the local comedy group Heart of La Crosse. Brad been featured on several national TV programs because of his memory skills.