Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties

Even with reams of data, flood-predicting is tough

FARGO, N.D. (AP) — Perched in a boat drifting slowly along the Red River, Dan Thomas kept one eye on a laptop and the other on a $60,000 piece of floating hardware that beamed sound waves deep into the flooding river. As the signal bounced off water molecules and returned, the laptop sorted it into data on the river’s depth and speed and transmitted it instantly to the National Weather Service.

Once there, the work by the U.S. Geological Survey’s water expert became part of the data stew the weather service relies upon to regularly update crest projections for rivers like the Red, whi...

 
 
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