Below is a photo I took at lunchtime today that show the St. Mary’s river rising near its banks in southern Ft. Wayne. At left, you can see the river greenway just above water level. The Fort Wayne Parks and Recreation Department had already gated off the greenway along Tillman Road, just south of Lower Huntington Road.

St. Mary’s River, looking south from Lower Huntington Road

Approximate location of the Muldoon Bridge flood gauge, along South Anthony Blvd extended, south of Ferguson Road. Muldoon Road is the diagonal road in the lower left corner.

At 7:40 EST this morning, the National Weather Service issued a flood warning for the “St. Mary’s River at Muldoon Bridge, affecting Allen County.”

“Muldoon Bridge” is the location name the NWS gave to the flood gauge at the St. Mary’s River near the site of the former South Anthony Blvd. Extended bridge. That bridge has been gone for years, but the former bridge is near the intersection of South Anthony Extended and Muldoon Road.

Because that gauge is where NWS measures the level of the St. Mary’s River just before it enters Fort Wayne, that’s the location it gives in its flood warning. Of course, high water at that gauge also means high water downstream. The Muldoon Bridge flood gauge is the only NWS gauge on the St. Mary’s River near Fort Wayne. The next gauge downstream is on the Maumee River (after the confluence of the St. Mary’s and St. Joe forms the Maumee), on the North end of the Anthony Blvd. bridge.

At 7:30 a.m. EST, the river level at the Muldoon Bridge gauge was 13.67 feet.

Flood stage at that gauge is 14.0 feet, which is when parks and farmland throughout southern Allen County begin to flood. Also at 14.0 feet, the City of Fort Wayne usually begins 24-hour flood fighting procedures. The NWS considers 14.1 feet to be “minor flooding.” “Moderate flooding” wouldn’t begin until 17 feet, which is much higher than the river is forecast to rise.

The NWS forecasts the St. Mary’s river to rise above flood stage (at the Muldoon Bridge gauge) this evening and crest near 14.1 feet at around 7 a.m. EST tomorrow. Meteorologists forecast the river to remain above flood stage until around 10 a.m. EST Tuesday.

SKYWARN Spotters: The NWS is looking for “ground truth” flooding reports along the St. Mary’s River in and near Fort Wayne. If you see such flooding, please contact the NWS via telephone (using the unlisted spotter toll-free number), Twitter (@NWSIWX), Facebook or email. Ham radio-equipped spotters might be able to relay reports by calling a SKYWARN net control station (NCS), who can relay the report via NWSChat. Although NCS do not plan to stand up a net at this time, they will monitor local ham frequencies as time allows.

Here’s a link to the latest NWS flood warning.

Here’s a link to an interactive map, on which you can see river levels at various flood gauges.

A number of flood warnings affect northeastern Indiana and northwestern Ohio this morning.

The Little River in Huntington on Feb. 21. Photo by Jill Biehl.

In Huntington, a flood warning remains in effect until 1 a.m. Sunday. At 1 a.m. this morning, the Huntington County Emergency Management Agency reported that the Little River had spilled over its banks in Huntington, due to an ice jam and that residents along the river had been evacuated. The National Weather Service indicated that additional ice jam flooding could occur upstream of Huntington.

A new warning came out for the St. Joe River near Fort Wayne. At 7 a.m. today, that river was a 11.9 feet and rising. Forecasters expected it to reach its flood stage of 12.0 feet. by 1 p.m. today. At that stage, lowland and farmland flooding near the river begins.

Another warning that includes Allen County (Ind.) is for the St. Mary’s river near Decatur. At 7 a.m. today, it was at 16.7 feet and rising. Forecasters expect it to crest near 17.1 feet — one tenth of a foot above flood stage — at around 1 p.m. today. They forecast it to remain above flood stage until 1 a.m. Feb. 25. At 17.0 feet, agricultural flooding occurs along the river in northern, central and eastern Adams County.

Other warnings in effect at this writing include:

• The Wabash River in Adams, Wells and Huntington Counties.
• The Eel River in Whitley, Wabash, Kosciusko, Miami and Cass Counties.
• Mississinewa River in Grant, Miami and Wabash Counties.
• Tippecanoe River in Fulton, Kosciusko, Marshall, Pulaski and Starke Counties.
• Saint Joseph River in De Kalb and Defiance Counties.
• Tiffin River in Defiance, Fulton (Ohio) and Williams Counties.
• Auglaize River in Allen (Ohio), Paulding and Putnam Counties

Here’s a link an NWS Web page that lists all the current flood warnings.

Here’s a link to another NWS Web page on which you can see the current river levels at various gauges.

If you’re a SKYWARN spotter who is looking for training opportunities beyond what the National Weather Service provides, here’s a symposium to consider. It’s put on every year by the Meteorology Club at Ohio State University. This year’s agenda includes a special presentation on the Central Oklahoma tornado outbreak of 2013 (the one that killed well-known engineer and storm chaser Tim Samaras).

As you can see in the graphic above, the symposium takes place Friday, March 21, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the campus of The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. I attended the past two symposiums and found them to be interesting and informative.

For more information and/or to make a reservation, visit this Web page: http://go.osu.edu/svrwx.

The northern Indiana office of the National Weather service has issued flood warnings for:

• The Saint Mary’s River near Decatur, affecting Adams, Allen (Ind.) and Van Wert Counties
• The Wabash River near Bluffton, affecting Wells and Huntington Counties.
• The Tiffin River near Stryker, affecting the Ohio counties of Defiance, Fulton and Williams.
• The Eel River at North Manchester, affecting Cass, Kosicusko, Miami, Wabash and Whitley Counties.
• The Auglaize River near Fort Jennings, affecting the Ohio counties of Allen, Paulding and Putnam.

NWS forecasts minor flooding along all of the above rivers, except for the Eel and Auglaize, where it forecasts moderate flooding. Here’s a link to the latest, verbatim flood warning statements (scroll down to find the statement for the river in which you’re interested).

Meanwhile, a Wind Advisory remains in effect until 6 p.m. EST for all 37 northern Indiana, southern lower Michigan and northwestern Ohio counties covered by the northern Indiana NWS office. Forecasters expect the strongest winds — 20 mph to 30 mph with gusts to 45 mph — to develop late this morning and persist through mid-afternoon.  Here’s a link to the latest statement on the Wind Advisory.

The good news is that the convective outlooks from the NWS Storm Prediction Center predict no severe thunderstorms in the Midwest for the next eight days.