ABSTRACT

One of the interesting consequences of the drought was the impairment of midsummer barge movement caused by low flows on the Mississippi, Ohio, and Missouri rivers—the major rivers that drain most of the central United States. The 1988 snowfall in the states located in the upper Mississippi drainage area ranged from 57% (Illinois) to 89% (Minnesota) of their long-term averages, and the basin-wide average was only 70% of normal. But no drought contingency plans for the lower Mississippi River were in place, leaving the task force response to be formed under crisis conditions. The diversion of shipments to the Great Lakes was sizeable enough for a spokesperson from the Illinois International Port at Chicago to call the drought "a windfall". The complex and inter-related set of drought influences and responses in the Midwest, especially the controversial proposed diversion, offers several lessons about droughts and their management.