Fargo River May Have Already Peaked

(AP) - Strengthening wind blew heavy, wet snow around Fargo today, adding to the strain on residents' spirits and on the patchwork system of sandbag levees protecting them from the bloated Red River. But there were no reports of problems from leaks or from wind-driven waves battering the dikes. “They say it's not going to affect the level of the river, but it just makes everything miserable,” one resident said. More»

Rains, wet winter, expected El Nino delivering deluge

(NEWSER) - In the latest climate calamity to cause misery, a third of the US is expected to be hit with flooding this spring. The Midwest, followed by the East Coast, will likely bear the brunt of what could be record flooding, brought by heavy rains last autumn, a wetter-than-usual winter, and a predicted El Nino weather system. "We are looking at potentially historic flooding," said a top official of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. More»

Weather brr-acing from Plains to Florida

(NEWSER) - A large chunk of the US was in the deep freeze yesterday, with temperatures plunging below freezing to as low as -37 in Minnesota's hapless International Falls, the town's coldest day since 1911. Temperatures dove from the Plains, Midwest and Northeast to Florida, giving citrus growers the shivers. Jacksonville was 20 degrees colder than its average temperature this time of year. The cold snap is one of the nation's most widespread since 1985, reports the Wall Street Journal. More»

(AP) - Earthmoving equipment and National Guard helicopters hauled sand today to reinforce leaky dikes that prompted evacuations in Valley City, a town threatened by the Sheyenne River, the latest North Dakota stream to rise above its banks. The Sheyenne was headed for a crest at around 22 feet in the next couple of days in Valley City, 2 feet higher than the record set in 1882. More»

(AP) - Thousands of shivering, tired Fargo residents got out while they could today, and others prayed that miles of sandbagged levees would hold as the surging Red River threatened to unleash the biggest flood North Dakota's largest city has ever seen. The crest is expected tomorrow evening, when the ice-laden river could climb as high as 43 feet, nearly 3 feet higher than the record set 112 years ago. More»