National Weather Service United States Department of Commerce

Monitoring Tsunami Impacts Across the Pacific; Air Quality Concerns; Dangerous Heat; Critical Fire Weather for the West

Tsunami impacts continue for portions of the Pacific basin. Wildfire smoke causes unhealthy air in Midwest to Great Lakes. Heat dome spans Mississippi Valley to Mid-Atlantic with excessive heat warnings and advisories. Critical fire weather in Great Basin to Pacific Northwest (dry thunderstorms). Cold front spawns severe storms/heavy rain in Central U.S. today, shifts to East Coast Thursday. Read More >

...ICE JAM FORMING ON MISSOURI RIVER... 

Warm weather last week caused the loss of the ice on the Missouri 
River through the Bismarck and Mandan area. However, colder weather 
along with snow earlier this week has created sufficient ice moving 
downstream to once again fill in the river channel.

As of Wednesday morning, ice has been collecting in the Fox Island 
area and restricting flow on the Missouri River. Water has been 
backing up on the Fox Island boat ramp parking lot. As ice continues 
to collect, increasingly higher water will move northward through 
the Bismarck and Mandan reach of the Missouri River.

The river stage at the onset of this ice jam was 9.6 ft as measured 
at the Bismarck gage on the Missouri River. Water levels due to ice 
jams are difficult to predict, but given the starting water 
elevation, an eventual stage of at least 12.5 ft at the Bismarck 
gage is not unreasonable to expect.

If you observe problematic high water, please report your 
observations to your local emergency management office.