The National Weather Service, Lower Mississippi River Forecast Center (LMRFC) is responsible for forecasting river storm surges within the Mississippi/Louisiana Gulf Coast Region. In a joint effort with the Tropical Prediction Center (TPC), realtime automated procedures have been developed to download and process storm surge hydrographs generated by the Sea, Lake and Overland Surges from Hurricanes (SLOSH) Model. The SLOSH surge hydrographs are processed through a series of local programs and scripts on the AWIPS platform with selectable output in text format for forecaster analysis and review. These hydrographs show predicted water levels at the mouth of several rivers draining into the Gulf of Mexico.

These surge hydrographs are input directly as downstream boundary conditions to the NWS River Forecast System (NWSRFS), Dynamic Wave Operational (DWOPER) Model for forecasting river crests as the surge wave progresses upstream. The forecast output from the DWOPER model is used as important hydrologic guidance for several points along the lower Mississippi River beginning at West Pointe ala Hache, Louisiana, and upstream 254 river miles to Red River Landing, Louisiana; which includes the New Orleans metropolitan area.