The Red River of the North forms the border between the states of North Dakota and Minnesota.  It crosses the U.S. - Canada border and flows through the Canadian province of Manitoba.  Going into the city of Winnipeg, Manitoba, it eventually empties into Lake Winnipeg. 

The Red River has an unusual quality for North American rivers: it flows from the south to the north.  This can lead to difficulty during the spring of the year, when the winter snow pack begins to melt.  The snow melts in the south first, before it has melted in the north; thus the river can be flowing in the south, yet still be frozen farther north. 

This satellite photo shows the region before the serious flooding began in the Red River Valley.  The red color represents the snow pack still on the ground. 
 
 
 

This image was taken shortly after the flood devastated Grand Forks.  In some places, the river is now 15 miles wide. 

As you can see, most of the snow in North Dakota and Minnesota has melted, but there is still a substantial amount of snow in Manitoba that will be melting soon. 

Because the Red River flows north, this means that it will pick up even more water as it moves its way into Canada towards Winnipeg, Manitoba 

To see a larger version of this and the other images, just move the mouse over the image and click. 
 
 
 
 

By now, the waters have left both Grand Forks and Fargo, and have entered northern North Dakota and even crossed the border into Canada  The flood waters have yet to approach Winnipeg, a Canadian city of almost 650,000 people. 

However, while the waters did serious damage to several small towns outside of Winnipeg, the city itself escaped with little damage compared to other larger areas like Grand Forks.  How did they avoid the flood? 

The yellow and orange areas are cloud cover that the satellite could not see through.