The Mississippi River Basin spans nearly half of the continental United States. Millions of people rely on the river system for drinking water, commerce and recreation. It’s a major economic driver and an important ecological habitat for countless species. But the basin is changing.
For hundreds of years, humans have managed their relationship with the great river — from indigenous communities relocating as the river changed course, to the Army Corps’ aggressive engineering of the river to prevent flooding over the past 100 years. Those levees and floodwalls have protected millions of people and billions of dollars worth of property.
Now the basin faces new challenges — climate change is bringing more extreme weather patterns, with the river and its tributaries frequently swinging between flooding and drought, straining infrastructure and flooding communities. Extreme heat and smoke-filled skies are threatening public health. Key species are being affected by these extremes, threatening ecological collapse.
It’s a crucial moment for the watershed. Reporters with the Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk, a regional collaborative, are telling the story — from low water impacts on shipping, extreme weather impacting farmers, engineering for climate change, and planting more climate-resilient crops. We are dedicated to illustrating how climate change is changing the basin, and how humans and other species are adapting to the new normal.
The Fifth National Climate Assessment, released earlier this month, warns of wide-ranging climate impacts throughout the United States. The implications for people and the environment in the Mississippi River basin are extreme, but experts stress that it is not too late to slow the worsening effects.
Lack of rain brought drought to much of the Mississippi River basin early this summer, and it’s likely going to linger into winter, Army Corps of Engineers leadership said during a press conference on Nov. 8 in Memphis, while a dredge was working nonstop to keep the river channel open a few miles south.
A fifth of reported heat-related deaths between 2017 and 2022 were agricultural workers, according to OSHA data. Academics, occupational health specialists and advocacy groups are calling attention to the under-reported impact of climate change on this group from heatwaves.
A hot summer and dry spring have brought drought to a large part of the Midwest. The lack of moisture has far-reaching implications, including on agriculture and water levels on the country’s largest rivers. Experts say it shows that exiting a drought is far more difficult than entering one.
Smoke from Canadian wildfires that turned skies along the East Coast a sickly yellow also brought air quality alerts to much of the Midwest this week. Climate experts say that as the planet warms, this kind of unhealthy air will become less of an anomaly.
A very wet winter is bringing major spring flooding along the upper Mississippi River. In some communities, the floodwaters are among the top three on record. Though the water is expected to crest and start receding in most places by next week, its impacts will linger.