AccuWeather forecasts economic losses of $20 billion from the Mississippi River’s historically low water levels.
Senior meteorologist Paul Pastelok tells Brownfield the low levels have caused barge traffic to come to a near standstill, and he doesn’t expect any significant change in the levels until early next year.
“We do have a couple of events in the near future, but they don’t produce a whole lot of rainfall,” Pastelok said. “This is going to be a slow process of returning to what levels we want to be at so that these barges can go up and down the Mississippi River.”
Pastelok says commerce on the river accounts for 92 percent of the country’s ag exports.
Low Mississippi River levels could cause $20B in losses
