January 2014 Ice Jams

Cold snaps followed by a thaw and/or rain can lead to a potentially significant hazard developing along our area rivers and creeks, ice jams. In January 2014 most of the eastern 2/3rds of the U.S. was impacted by a severe cold snap which broke numerous records in the NWS Cleveland area. Daily low temperature records were broken at all of our climate sites with lows that ranged from -9ºF to -15ºF two night in a row (1/6/14 and 1/7/14).

This severe cold snap iced over most of Lake Erie and almost every river and creek in the region. The ice in the western rivers like the Maumee and Portage Rivers grew to 8-10” thick, while eastern rivers saw ice thicknesses around 6”.

The cold snap was followed by rain and mild temperatures in the 40s and lower 50s, resulting in many breakup jams. The rainfall that fell during the thaw averaged 0.75” and the snowmelt another 0.1-0.5” (1/9-1/11). This runoff was enough to raise water levels, but only a few reached or exceeded flood stage. Had the rainfall been even a half inch more, than most rivers would have flooded which could have made the ice jams all the more severe. However, for the most part the ice jams were small and low impact.

Only 19% of ice jams have occurred in the month of January according to past climatology of the region. This means that with colder air in place, we can expect to see more ice growth over the next couple of months. The periods to be most concerned about ice jams are when a thaw with snowmelt, typically associated with rainfall, can quickly raise stream levels.

Updated 1/19/14