Flood levels caused warnings along Connecticut River
Mar 19, 2025
CHICOPEE, Mass. (WWLP) - Heavy rain over the weekend brought some minor river flooding along the Connecticut River.
Those river flood warnings have since expired, but it's not too unusual to see flood conditions this time of year. River flooding normally isn't an issue during March, but warming t
emperatures across the northeast have made it very real in Massachusetts.
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River Flood Warnings were in effect for areas along the Connecticut river in Franklin County and the northern half of Hampshire County. Despite the warning being no longer in effect, some areas like Northampton are still in minor flood stage.
22News Storm Team Meteorologist Christ Bouzakis told 22News why we saw the river stage so high during this time of year.
"This is mostly because the river levels are higher than usual because of the rain we saw the other day on Monday," Bouzakis said. "And on top of it, up to the north of us and Vermont, New Hampshire got all the melting snow pack in the mountains, and all that has to go the river in the creek and streams."
Flood stage levels along the Connecticut River were well above 15 feet in some areas, but we can tell that the water levels are decreasing. Precipitation has been well below average in 2025, with less than six inches of rain according to Westover Air Reserve Base.
We normally experience 9.8 inches of rain in the first three months of the year. Despite infrequent rain and virtually no snow, there is still a possibility for river levels to fluctuate.
"They keep evaluating the river levels, and so they kind of go hour by hour sometimes with these things," Bouzakis said. "I do expect that it should likely start to drop the next few days with the temperatures cooling back down, and we do expect a little rain, but it's not going to be anything flooding-wise."
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