Mississippi
The Mississippi River basin is getting wetter as climate change brings era of extreme rain, floods
Within the early morning hours of July 26, many St. Louis-area residents awoke to floodwater filling their houses, or to the din of blaring automobile alarms from automobiles getting overtaken by murky brown water. An excessive amount of rain was falling far too quick.
The climate system dumped greater than 9 inches on St. Louis – a few quarter of the town’s annual common – compressed largely inside just a few hours. That very same week, torrential rain storms settled on Japanese Kentucky, the place as much as 16 inches fell and water rushed into individuals’s houses so swiftly that many didn’t get out in time.
Jeff Faughender
/
Courier-Journal
Forty individuals had been killed in Japanese Kentucky. Two individuals died in St. Louis.
Longtime residents in each areas, no strangers to extreme storms and flooding, stated they’d seen nothing prefer it earlier than – they usually’re proper.
The rainfall totals obliterated earlier data in every space by a margin that was troublesome for some specialists to fathom – topping St. Louis’ single-day file by greater than two inches, for example. It was yet one more instance that rain isn’t falling the way in which that it used to, with each the magnitude and depth of maximum rain occasions rising all through current a long time, throughout a big a part of the nation.
The late-July storms that devastated St. Louis and Japanese Kentucky helped showcase the dangers wrought by a local weather that’s rising hotter and wetter – and extra vulnerable to dumping large rains and flash flooding on communities whose creeks, streams and drainage methods are usually not outfitted to deal with such unstable waters.
The shifting tendencies and escalating flood danger raises pressing questions on society’s readiness to deal with the change, as spiraling and once-unheard-of rainfall extremes turn into extra frequent.
“We’re not doing sufficient. This final flood positive proves it,” stated Bob Criss, a Washington College emeritus professor who research regional flooding. “This downside will not be going to get higher. We’ve obtained to make it higher.”
‘Extra gas to work with’
Within the wake of July’s floods, the Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk – a journalism partnership that features greater than 14 newsrooms – requested local weather information nonprofit Local weather Central to investigate 50 years of rainfall patterns.
Findings confirmed that the jap half of the U.S. is getting far wetter on common, with some areas – together with elements of the Mississippi River Basin – now receiving as much as 8 extra inches of rain every year than 50 years in the past, primarily based on information from the Nationwide Climate Service and the Nationwide Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
“Local weather change fashions present additional will increase are doubtless in coming years,” stated Local weather Central information scientist Jen Brady, who helped with our evaluation.
And when it rains, it pours, primarily based on information on rainfall depth. In different phrases, not solely is extra rain falling, however it’s additionally falling more durable in lots of locations, like Baton Rouge and New Orleans, in response to additional evaluation from Local weather Central.
The pattern is essentially tied to warmth. As greenhouse gases from fossil fuels warmth the Earth, that warming extends to the oceans and the Gulf of Mexico — a main supply of the atmospheric moisture for the Japanese U.S. Warming oceans produce extra water vapor, and a warming ambiance can maintain extra moisture, which might then ship extra precipitation briefly home windows of time.
“We’re getting hotter and we’re getting wetter,” stated Pat Guinan, Missouri’s state climatologist and a professor on the College of Missouri. “We’re in an unprecedented moist interval.”
Current a long time have given rise to a stark divide seen throughout the continental U.S., with the western half of the nation changing into more and more arid and vulnerable to drought, whereas the jap half is confronted with distinctive moisture, typically delivered in bursts.
The Midwest is one area absorbing the brunt of all that water. Since 1958, the Midwest has seen a 42% enhance within the quantity of precipitation that falls throughout essentially the most excessive occasions, stated Ken Kunkel, a professor at North Carolina State College who research excessive rainfall and is a lead scientist behind the Nationwide Local weather Evaluation.
“The longer term will likely be characterised by extra excessive occasions, just because our supply of water vapor will likely be hotter,” stated Kunkel. “The system can have extra gas to work with.”
That helps drive dangers of excessive water even in sure locations set aside from more and more flood-prone main rivers, with widespread flash flooding as a separate – and in some methods higher – hazard.
“At this level, no group within the nation is safeguarded from flooding,” stated Laura Lightbody, director of the Pew Charitable Trusts’ flood-prepared communities mission. “We’re seeing it flood in additional locations than ever anticipated earlier than.”
Don’t simply ‘blame the climate’
Flash flood danger is formed by greater than climate alone. Pavement-heavy city areas and locations with constricted rivers or hilly topography compound the menace and are particularly susceptible.
Round St. Louis, even an inch and a half of rain in an hour can set off localized flash flooding, with small city tributaries reacting to rainfall far sooner and extra dramatically than the area’s main rivers. In St. Louis County, for instance, creeks can rise as a lot as 10 ft in an hour.
In the meantime, in a single Appalachian city, the North Fork Kentucky River shattered its earlier top file by greater than six ft in July’s flooding, dashing in quick sufficient to destroy the U.S. Geological Survey sensor designed to observe the river.
That explosiveness means flash floods can current a much more sudden menace to individuals and property than the gradual rise of rivers carrying water collected from afar.
“You will get caught by quickly rising water and it is arduous to anticipate,” Kunkel stated.
Flash floods have obtained “intensive” assist – changing into much more harmful – in lots of densely developed and closely populated city settings, say different specialists, like Criss, who has shifted his analysis focus extra towards flash floods, in recent times.
Such flood dangers can differ broadly from place to put, however might be particularly pronounced in small, “flashy” watersheds which are unusually delicate to bursts of incoming water. One of many epicenters of injury close to St. Louis, for instance, occurred alongside the higher stretches of the River Des Peres, a extremely urbanized waterway that specialists like Criss have recognized as essentially the most flash flood-prone system in Missouri, and have lengthy voiced considerations over.
The river basically acts as an city drainage ditch, transformed largely right into a straightened concrete sleeve that may be simply overwhelmed with water funneled its manner throughout storms – delivered extra rapidly and plentifully by all the encircling pavement and different impervious surfaces.
It’s a mixture that doesn’t combine effectively with extra excessive precipitation – dealing with individuals and property with heightened flash flood dangers.
“Intense rainfall is simply making all of it the more severe,” stated Criss. “[But] I don’t wish to simply blame the climate on a regular basis. That makes it like we’re not accountable…. There’s loads we are able to do in our native communities to enhance the way in which we construct and deal with our creeks.”
Specialists cite examples of precautions that vary from pursuing buyouts of high-risk properties, limiting and corralling runoff, constructing water storage initiatives, and higher floodproofing houses and basements.
Some comparable danger components are at play in rural Appalachia – one other epicenter of this summer time’s flood injury. There, rugged terrain leaves houses to be constructed nearly solely alongside rivers and on the foot of mountains. Water travels rapidly alongside the steep slopes to the residents under.
The area’s historical past of strip mining and mountaintop removing additionally contributes to the hazard, because the broken land is commonly unable to soak in water because it naturally would. Even remediated mine lands typically include compacted soil and grass, which aren’t almost as efficient for flood mitigation because the forest that after occupied the land.
“It’s like pouring water on a tabletop,” defined Mary Cromer, of the Appalachian Residents’ Regulation Heart, who just lately sat earlier than members of Congress and painted the damaging image of the flooding that put the legislation middle and most of her city of Whitesburg underneath water.
Extra rainfall presents pressing challenges and imperatives: How can a metropolis retool the constructed setting to face up to stronger flooding? How do individuals get out of hurt’s manner?
Most current buildings had been constructed to face up to circumstances and expectations primarily based on what used to occur – not the local weather tendencies occurring at this time, nor future projections.
“Historic information is not a very good predictor of the long run,” Kunkel stated. In consequence, he provides that, “we’re not constructing issues to the extent of resilience that we’d count on.”
In freshly flooded locations across the U.S., varied types of restoration are underway – a course of that might take a very long time.
In Kentucky, residents had been instructed to count on years of rebuilding. However some, like Cromer, level to the continued menace posed by local weather change – giving the troublesome rebuild the grim chance of changing into a Sisyphean job, poised to repeat itself, except sure modifications and precautions go into place.
“We all know flooding like this may occur once more,” she stated.
This story is a part of When it Rains, a particular collection from the Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk, an editorially unbiased reporting community primarily based on the College of Missouri College of Journalism in partnership with Report For America and the Society of Environmental Journalists, funded by the Walton Household Basis.
Up-to-date information on deer season 2024-25 in Mississippi including CWD, season dates, bag limits, antler restrictions and more.
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Deer season is almost here and will kick off this month with the early, buck-only archery season followed by the traditional archery season in October then the early primitive weapon season and gun season in November. For thousands in Mississippi, it’s the most exciting time of the year.
But, as has been the case in many years, there have been some changes. Here’s what hunters need to know about chronic wasting disease, bag limits, harvest reporting and season dates for the 2024-25 deer season.
Deer hunting season dates
North Central, Delta and Hills deer management units
- Archery: Sept. 13-15, One legal buck. Special permit, mandatory reporting and CWD sampling required. Private land and authorized state and federal lands.
- Archery: Oct. 1-Nov. 22, Either sex on private land, open public land, and Holly Springs National Forest.
- Youth: Nov. 9-22, Either sex on private lands and authorized state and federal lands.
- Youth: Nov. 23-Jan. 31, Either sex on private lands. On open public lands, youth must follow below legal deer criteria.
- Antlerless primitive weapon: Nov. 11-22, Antlerless deer only on private lands.
- Gun with dogs: Nov. 23-Dec. 1, Either sex on private land and Holly Springs National Forest. Legal bucks only on open public land.
- Primitive weapon: Dec. 2-15, Either sex on private land, open public land, and Holly Springs National Forest. Weapons of choice may be used on private land with the appropriate license.
- Gun without dogs: Dec. 16-23, Either sex on private land and Holly Springs National Forest. Legal bucks only on open public land.
- Gun with dogs: Dec. 24-Jan.22, Either sex on private land and Holly Spring National Forest. Legal bucks only on open public land.
- Archery, primitive weapon: Jan. 23-31, Either sex on private land and Holly Springs National Forest. Legal bucks only on open public land. Weapons of choice may be used on private land with appropriate license.
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Southeast Deer Management Unit
- Archery: Sept. 13-15, One legal buck. Special permit, mandatory reporting and CWD sampling required. Private land and authorized state and federal lands.
- Archery: Oct. 15-Nov. 22, Either sex on private or open public land.
- Youth: 15 years and under, Nov. 9-22, Either sex on private land and authorized state and federal land.
- Youth: 15 years and under, Nov. 23-Feb. 15, Either sex on private land. On open public land, youth must follow legal deer criteria.
- Gun with dogs: Nov. 23-Dec. 1, Either sex on private land. Legal bucks only on open public land.
- Primitive weapon: Dec. 2-15, Either sex on private or open public land. Weapons of choice may be used on private land with appropriate license.
- Gun without dogs: Dec. 16-23, Either sex on private land. Legal bucks only on open public land.
- Gun with dogs: Dec. 24-Jan. 22, Either sex on private land. Legal bucks only on open public land.
- Archery, primitive weapon: Jan. 23-31, Either sex on private land. Legal bucks only on open public land. Weapon of choice may be used on private land with the appropriate license.
- Archery, primitive weapon: Feb. 1-15, Legal bucks only on private and open public land. Weapon of choice may be used on private land with the appropriate license.
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Deer bag limits
- Delta DMU: The bag limit for antlered deer is one per day, three per annual season. The antlerless bag limit is five.
- Hills DMU: The bag limit for antlered deer is one per day, three per annual season. The antlerless bag limit is five.
- North Central DMU: The bag limit for antlered deer is one per day, four per annual season. The limit for antlerless deer is 10 on private lands.
- Southeast DMU: The bag limit for antlered deer is one per day, three per annual season. The bag limit for antlerless deer is one per day, three per annual season.
- U.S. Forest Service National Forests: The bag limit for antlered deer is one per day, three per annual season. The bag limit for antlerless deer is one per day, five per annual season except in the Southeast DMU where the antlerless limit is one per day, three per annual season.
Antler requirements
- Delta DMU: 12-inch inside spread or 15-inch main beam
- Hills DMU: 10-inch inside spread or 13-inch main beam
- North Central DMU: No antler restrictions apply to this zone. Hunters may harvest bucks with any hardened antler.
- Southeast DMU: 10-inch inside spread or 13-inch main beam
- Youth hunters: For youth hunters 15 years of age and younger, hunting on private land and authorized state and federal lands, all of the buck bag limit may be any antlered deer.
- Buck of choice: In the Delta, Hills and Southeast DMUs, hunters may harvest one buck that does not meet antler requirements on private land and Holly Springs National Forest.
- Public lands: Antler requirements vary among public lands. Hunters should check regulations for the specific public land they plan to hunt before hunting.
Blaze orange
Hunters have traditionally been required to wear 500 square inches of unbroken blaze orange while deer hunting as a safety measure, but this year they have an alternative. A bill passed in the 2024 Legislative session allows hunters to choose between blaze orange or pink.
CWD testing
Testing deer for CWD, a disease that is considered always fatal for deer, is not mandatory other than during the early archery season, but the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks urges hunters to provide tissue samples of harvested deer for testing.
According to the department, knowing where the disease exists and how prevalent it is helps in managing and slowing the spread of the disease.
Although there has been no known case of it spreading to humans, the CDC warns against consuming infected deer. So hunters should know if their deer is infected as well.
Since the disease was first detected in Mississippi in 2018, there have been 318 cases found in the state as of September 2024.
For convenience, MDWFP has provided freezers at locations across the state where hunters can leave deer heads with six inches of neck attached for testing. The agency has also partnered with a number of taxidermy businesses that will have deer tested at the customer’s request.
CWD management zones
Counties in CWD management zones have changed with some added and a zone added this year. Within these zones, special regulations are in place to slow the spread of the disease such as a supplemental feeding ban and carcass transportation restrictions.
North CWD Management Zone
The North CWD Management Zone includes all portions of the following counties:
- Alcorn County
- Benton County
- Desoto County
- Lafayette County
- Marshall County
- Panola County
- Prentiss County
- Tate County
- Tippah County
- Tishomingo County
- Union County
Portions of Coahoma, Quitman, and Tunica counties are also included and are defined as:
- Areas south of MS 4
- Areas east of Old Highway 61 to the intersection of US 49
- Areas east of US 49 to the intersection of US 278
- Areas north of US 278
- Areas west of MS 3
Issaquena CWD Management Zone
- Claiborne County
- Sharkey County, east of the Mississippi River and south of MS 14
- Warren County
Harrison CWD Management Zone
Portions of Hancock and Harrison counties are included and defined as:
- All portions of Harrison County west of US 49
- All portions of Hancock County east of MS 53, MS 603 and MS 43
- All portions of Hancock County east of Nicholson Avenue
What is banned in a CWD management zone?
- Salt licks
- Mineral licks
- Supplemental feeding
- Transportation of deer carcasses outside the zone
What parts of a deer can be taken out of a CWD zone?
- Cut/wrapped meat
- Deboned meat
- Hides with no head attached
- Bone-in leg quarters
- Finished taxidermy
- Antlers with no tissue attached
- Cleaned skulls or skull plates with no brain tissue
- Hunters may transport deer heads to permitted taxidermists participating in the CWD collection program. A CWD sample number must be obtained from a participating taxidermist prior to transporting a deer head outside of the CWD management zone.
Do you have a story idea? Contact Brian Broom at 601-961-7225 or bbroom@gannett.com.
The Mississippi high school football rankings saw some drastic changes after an opening week which saw multiple ranked matchups in the Magnolia State.
Brandon, Madison Central and Louisville each won top-10 games while Oak Grove, West Jones, Clinton and Germantown also picked up ranked wins.
Below is the updated Mississippi On3 Massey Ratings top 25, as of Sept. 2.
The On3 Massey Ratings — which were officially used during the BCS era and have generated college high school sports team rankings since 1995 — rank sports teams by analyzing game outcomes, strength of schedule and margin of victory.
CLICK HERE to watch high school games on NFHS Network now!
Previous Ranking: No. 4 (+3)
Madison Central opened the season in style with a 27-20 top-10 win over Ocean Springs. Ocean Springs shut out Madison Central for nearly the entire first half — until Madison Central running back Glen Singleton rattled off four consecutive rushing touchdowns. The Jaguars are on the road again Friday in the Mississippi game of the week as they travel to face No. 2 Brandon.
Previous Ranking: No. 3 (+1)
Brandon featured in another Mississippi top-10 game in week one, thrashing then-No. 7 Picayune Memorial 60-34. Star junior defensive back Preston Ashley recorded a 45-yard scoop-and-score touchdown, Logan Drummond returned a punt 61 yards to the house and Trey McQueen returned an interception 38 yards for a score in a night filled with unconventional scoring for the Bulldogs. Brandon will host No. 1 Madison Central on Friday.
Previous Ranking: No. 2 (-1)
Starkville took down Noxubee County 43-22 in week one. Tyson Knox picked off Mississippi State commit KaMario Taylor on Starkville’s own 1-yard line to keep the Yellowjackets’ 14-point lead in the second half. Two plays later, quarterback Jaylen Ruffin hit Jaheim Deanes for a 97-yard touchdown. Starkville now gets to look forward to hosting No. 20 West Point this week.
Previous Ranking: No. 1 (-3)
Oak Grove fell in the rankings this week simply by virtue of other teams’ impressive performances — as the Warriors won their game over No. 15 Grenada 38-24. Oak Grove quarterback Kellon Hall was 19-of-27 passing for 306 yards with a touchdown. Next up is No. 11 Ocean Springs at home.
Previous Ranking: No. 5
Tupelo escaped upset-minded Whitehaven last week with a 26-19 opening win. Quarterback Noah Gillon and running back J.J. Hill each accounted for two touchdowns as the Golden Wave came away with an ugly win in ugly conditions following a 90-minute weather delay. Tupelo will play Southaven on the road next.
Previous Ranking: No. 9 (+3)
Yet another top-10 matchup on opening night in Mississippi. Louisville took down then-No. 10 West Point 15-14 in a nailbiter. Louisville scored the only points of the second half — a 21-yard field goal to put the Wildcats on top. Louisville will hit the road again this week at Neshoba Central.
Previous Ranking: No. 8 (+1)
West Jones knocked Laurel out of the Mississippi top 25 with a dominant 34-6 win on Friday. Senior running back Elijah Jones was unstoppable on the ground with 226 yards and four touchdowns on 24 carries. West Jones will play Northeast Jones on the road this Friday.
Previous Ranking: No. 21 (+13)
Clinton pulled off the upset in week one with a 26-20 win over then-No. 11 Warren Central in the ‘Red Carpet Bowl’. Jakobe Williams rushed for two touchdowns while the Clinton special teams and defense scored on a blocked punt and recovered three fumbles. A road game against Northwest Rankin is on deck.
Previous Ranking: No. 16 (+7)
Oxford owned one of the few week one blowouts on this list, beating Lafayette 45-0 in the ‘Crosstown Classic.’ All six of the Chargers’ touchdowns came on the ground. Oxford will play No. 22 South Panola at home this Friday.
Previous Ranking: No. 12 (+2)
Madison-Ridgeland moved to 3-0 on the season after a 50-6 win over Oak Forest Academy that was never in question. Pulaski Academy — The No. 9 team in Arkansas — is on deck for the Patriots.
11. Ocean Springs (-5)
12. Gulfport (+2)
13. Pearl (+4)
14. Germantown (+10)
15. Hartfield Academy (+3)
16. Grenada (-1)
17. Picayune Memorial (-10)
18. Hattiesburg (NR)
19. Jackson Prep (+3)
20. West Point (-10)
21. D’Iberville (NR)
22. South Panola (-9)
23. Poplarville (NR)
24. Warren Central (-13)
25. Gautier (NR)
Dropped from rankings: Northwest Rankin, Meridian, Columbia, Laurel
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. —It winds 650 miles, rushing past the cities, industries and landscapes that make up Minnesota.
However, the Mississippi River has never gotten this type of attention from water quality professionals.
For the first time ever, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) is testing the entirety of the river, from Itasca to Iowa, in a single year.
The governor’s office wants the river to be swimmable and fishable, but right now, parts of the river are polluted.
The MPCA says the upper Mississippi is largely healthy up north, but quality drops south of St. Cloud where metro development and tributaries from agriculture muddy the waters. The National Park Service says stretches of the river exceed water quality standards for things like mercury, bacteria and sediment.
Think of the testing like a checkup for one of our state’s most valuable and powerful resources. Researchers will check temperature, transparency and levels of pollutants like phosphorus, nitrogen and ammonia.
Crews also check fish for those contaminants and collect insects to test in a lab to identify any concerning trends.
“If we find the fish community is suffering — maybe the water is too warm and maybe there’s a thermal pollution source upstream or maybe it’s too much runoff — that sort of stuff. Temperature is an important indicator especially for sensitive species,” Isaac Martin with the MPCA said.
Also for the first time, the agency is looking for PFAS contamination with money from an Environmental Protection Agency grant to identify and stop the forever chemicals from streaming into the Mississippi.
PFAS are a group of manufactured chemicals for industry and consumer products that don’t break down in the environment. While research is ongoing, the EPA says exposure to the chemicals can cause human health issues. It’s why the federal agency just lowered the amount allowed in drinking water.
“They go to parts per trillion, which is incredibly sensitive. You get that low, you’re talking drops in an Olympic swimming pool,” Martin said. “Part of the reason why it was chosen is because it’s a primary drinking source or potentially could be a primary drinking source. We’re just finding them in places we never expected to find them. We’re finding them almost everywhere and being that it is new, there’s just a lot of ‘I don’t know’ that goes with it.”
It’s too early to know what this complete snapshot will reveal, but we know this powerful river is part of our community, economy and health.
“Maybe you don’t use the resource yourself, but maybe you know someone who does or future generations of your own will,” Martin said. “In Minnesota, we’re just trying to be the best stewards we can be.”
The data from this testing will be available early next year. Researchers will use that data and compare it to 10-year pollution averages to determine which parts of the river are improved or impaired.
A full report will be released in 2026.
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