Spring flooding risk for Rock River is lessened, National Weather Service said

If the Rock River floods, it won’t be because of winter snowmelt.

The Quad Cities and Chicago stations of the National Weather Service issued their spring flooding forecasts last week.

Both said the risk of flooding of streams and rivers in northern Illinois was below average.

Snow cover is below normal across much of the region, they said. Any threat of spring flooding will depend on the frequency of spring rains.

The risk of flooding for the upper Rock River, from Rockton to Dixon and its Pecatonica and Kishwaukee tributaries is lessened because much of the winter snow cover has already melted.

For lower portions of the Rock River, near to below-normal soil moisture and the lack of a deep snowpack are also contributing factors.

The Mississippi River is a slightly different matter, the Quad City station said. Northern reaches of the Mississippi River basin are above normal and subject to flooding if snow melts rapidly over frozen ground.

But dry to moderate drought conditions are reducing the flood risk to the Mississippi. River levels in the upper Mississippi watershed are running near to normal, providing more capacity to handle heavy spring rains, the service said.

The outlook is for February through April.