English: The Mighty Mississippi River claims fame as the second longest river in North America, flowing 2,350 miles (3,782 km) from Lake Itasca—a small glacial lake in Minnesota—to the Gulf of Mexico. The Mississippi watershed is one of the largest in the world, measuring about 1.2 million square miles (3.2 million square kilometers). The watershed consists of more than a hundred tributaries and extends from the Appalachian to the Rocky Mountains. It drains about 40 percent of the continental United States and encompasses parts of 32 states and two Canadian provinces.

For those living along the Mississippi, life adjusts to the ebb and flow of the Big Muddy and a watchful eye is kept open for flood conditions. Perhaps the most predictable flood risk occurs in spring, when lengthening days and warming temperatures melt snowpack in the north and high elevations throughout the Mississippi Basin. As rain-and-melt-swollen tributaries spill into the Mississippi, the water level rises. After the spring rise comes the floods—usually spotty and not tremendously severe, but sometimes widespread and devastating. The worst flood on records was the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927, which inundated about 27,000 square miles (70,000 square km) reaching a maximum depth of 30 feet (9 m) in some areas.

On April 25, 2021, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Terra satellite acquired a false-color image of the spring rise along part of the Mississippi River. Utilizing infrared and visible light (MODIS bands 7,2,1), this type of false color image aids visualization of water (dark blue) against vegetated land (bright green). The image captures the meanders of the Mississippi River just north of Memphis, Tennessee and along the border of Arkansas and Mississippi. The White River can be seen joining the Mississippi in Arkansas.

The Mississippi River appears to be swollen along its entire course, with pockets of water dotting several of the low-lying floodplains. The White River also appears swollen and perhaps overflowing its banks in several areas. According to the National Weather Service, on April 26, Minor to Moderate flooding was occurring along the White River for several miles. Minor flooding was occurring along the Mississippi River south of Memphis, Tennessee and near Arkansas City and Greenville, Arkansas. Major flooding is not forecast at this time.