Mar 16 (76/365) Watch it grow

Well it is about that time of year. I thought I would start out by showing you this 40 foot tall measuring 'stick'. It looks pretty silly up on that hill of snow, right?

Now, see the next photo? That is the little river (Red River of the North) that runs north at the bottom of this little hill of snow. Yes, it runs north to Canada!

With this much snow and more expected, we will flood this Spring. I will continue taking photos so you can watch as the river overflows the banks and moves up this hill and climbs up this measuring device.

The 40 does indicate 40 feet of water is the maximum this area can hold. It is impressive. It (the river) moves from this very small slip of river (left), up over the banks, past where you now see a man walking along the bike path, over the parking lot (marked by the wooden stakes) and then up the hill and climbs the ruler.

It will also climb the banks on the other side of the river and be lapping at the doors of the houses you see over there! This parking lot is just to the west of the Red River and allows for a lot of parking and even a Farmers Market in the summer. It is at the bottom of the hill that the children are sledding down. So those sledding down the hill would end up down in the parking lot shown in the second photo. Too far for them to end up in the water, but just a very short walk from one to the other.

For more Fargo Flood information and pics, be sure to visit Chris' blog at
http://cbrown47.blogspot.com/ and leave him a comment to let him know you were there :)

UPDATE Fargo Flood Water - March 24, 2009
This is the SAME measuring device that you see in the first photo above and here - it is a large park here in Fargo. Notice the 40' mark in both photos? In the first photo people are sledding down the hill and into the parking lot.

In this photo, the parking lot and everything is under water. So far we are at about 30.83' and climbing. The top of the measuring device is at 40' - we are expecting the water to crest at 42' the last I heard. That is TWO feet above the top of this 'ruler'.... and over this protective, man made dike. This is called Dike East and is located near downtown Fargo (south of main ave).

When taking this photo the Main Avenue bridge is behind and to the left.