WATCH: Northland Rivers And Waterfalls Are Roaring This Spring
In a far cry from the visuals we saw 8 months ago, Northland rivers and streams are roaring right now.
This is certainly not uncommon for this time of year - but it still doesn't make it any less of a stunning visual. Snowmelt and rainfall usually combine to make rivers and streams swell to their season highs during the spring months across the Northland.
Some years see more water than others, and this year things are on the higher end of the spectrum. Even with the slower snow melt due to the cooler weather we've had, an ample snow pack continuing to melt away across the Northland and some heavy rain from recent thunderstorms have largely erased the drought we saw last summer and have added extra water to area rivers and streams.
To illustrate just how much water is moving this spring, another one of the folks here at the station found out that the Thomson Dam near Jay Cooke State Park is seeing over 100,000 gallons of water per second flowing along the St. Louis River from the dam down the river toward Lake Superior. You read that right. Per. Second. At that rate, it would take about 6 seconds to completely fill an Olympic pool.
Again, while springtime is the wet season, remember that as recently as last August, the internet was freaking out about how Gooseberry Falls had nearly stopped flowing and the Lester River was no longer flowing into Lake Superior. It's a wild contrast to say the least. Here's a little reminder of what that looked like.
Fast forward 8 months, and Mother Nature has largely erased that drought. The Duluth office of the National Weather Service shared an update on the drought situation across the Northland. A small portion of the far reaches of the Minnesota Arrowhead and part of Cass County are in the lowest drought category, "abnormally dry", with the rest of the region no longer considered in a drought.
Also noted by the NWS is that more rain is on the way for this weekend. Much of the region could see between a half an inch to an inch of rain over the weekend, adding to the already swollen river and streams.
So, how do things look right now with all of the rain and snowmelt going on across the Northland? Here is some video footage captured on April 27, 2022, showing just how much some area rivers and waterfalls are roaring right now.
Despite the wealth of water flowing around the Northland right now, the folks at the National Weather Service are thinking that this summer could pivot to a particularly hot and dry season for the region. If that's the case, at least we saw some relief from last summer's extreme drought conditions across the Northland.