The spring thaw

Today is the first day of spring. This is a time for renewed optimism in the Red River Valley, but it is tempered by caution because the spring melt is also a time for the annual flood. The Red River of the North and every tributary to this great river, large and small, fills up with cold water from the snowdrifts that formed over the past four or five months. Some years, like this one, we also have to consider the rainwater held frozen in the soil from the previous fall.

We live on a small river that feeds the Red. This river serves as the drainage ditch for many square miles of flat farmland. The banks overflow on a regular basis from major rain events, so you can imagine what a record year of snowmelt will do. Our house is surrounded by a tall earthen dike; this structure was built after the big flood of 1997. But the National Weather Service and the USGS suggest that this year's flood could be bigger. This blog is my attempt to document the flood of 2009.