The Mississippi River level hit -0.77 at Vicksburg on Wednesday and is expected to stay at extremely low levels at least until the end of October, according to information from the National Weather Service.

“This week, it’s looking pretty dry,” Anna Wolverton, meteorologist for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Mississippi Valley Division, said Tuesday. “For the next seven days, there is a front that might bring some light precipitation on Thursday overnight, but really that’s all the rainfall expected in the next seven days.”

She said Vicksburg may get some rainfall, but it will be insufficient to ease the drought conditions in the area.

Beyond that, she said, the long-range outlook shows above-normal precipitation in the second week and into the end of October.

Although lower than the -0.2-foot level recorded in 2022, Marty Pope, hydrologist for the National Weather Service Office in Jackson, said the Weather Service has not issued a statement designating Tuesday’s -0.64 reading a record.

According to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers RiverGages.com website, which shows river levels issued by the National Weather Service, the Mississippi’s level at 11 a.m. Wednesday was -0.77 feet. And the forecast indicates it’s going to get lower, Pope said.

“Right now, they’re looking at it getting down to as low as -1.2 by Friday, and it should hang there, and then it’ll go back up a little bit. There’s a little water coming down,” he said.

According to the National Weather Service forecast, the Mississippi is predicted to go to -1.1 on Sunday before rising to -0.9 feet on Monday.