at any inhabited areas. The breakup began on 28
which was also iced over to the Quebec border.
March when moderate rain and higher air tem-
This ice was once again composed of smooth,
peratures resulted in a period of slow ice melt-
juxtaposed floes with little indication of shoving.
ing through 2 April. All of the snow cover on
The Southwest Branch had a smooth cover at our
top of the ice melted at the same time following
access points, the Boise Cascade Road and at the
a short cold spell. High air temperatures re-
confluence of Baker Branch.
turned (about 30 to 45F) from 4 to 10 April,
The Big Black River was completely frozen
which caused considerable additional rotting of
over up to the USGS gage near Depot Mountain
the ice cover.
on 23 December. The Allagash River was fully ice
An observation flight made on 7 April
covered up to at least Township 15, Range 11
showed numerous small open leads and jams
(T15 R11).
between Madawaska and St. Francis. We also
We measured ice thickness from Allagash to
spotted small open leads at Allagash, Big Rap-
the upper basin at the Daaquam River and Baker
ids, Poplar Island Rapids and Schoolhouse Rap-
Branch during 2124 January. These revealed a
ids, with the rest of the upper reaches showing
solid ice thickness ranging from 1333 in., with
some small areas of flooded ice. The air temper-
the great majority of measurements being in the
atures had returned to the about 35F on 15
range of 2028 in. By the end of January, most of
April, reached about 55F by 18 April and final-
the open water reaches observed on 12 December
ly about 60F on 19 and 20 April.
were frozen over.
Ground observations and an air flight on 18
April revealed that most of the remaining ice
Aroostook River
was very rotted. Stable ice remained from
On 12 December the river was open from its
Grand Falls Dam to Van Buren, with the river
confluence with the St. John River to Tinker Dam
then being totally open from immediately
in New Brunswick, 2 miles upstream. A stable
downstream of the Grand Isle town line to
cover then extended for about 17 miles to approx-
imately 1/2 mile below the dam in Caribou. An-
Madawaska Village. There was only about 1
mile of rotted ice in Frenchville and the river
other ice cover was located between the dam and
was again open until the Fort Kent bridge. The
a point upstream of the Village of Sheridan in
ice upstream of Fort Kent was rotted with many
Ashland, a distance of 40 miles, where a large,
open channel began. The open river reach extend-
open leads and small jams. A very large lead
ed 8 miles up to the confluence of Squa Pan
was observed below the confluence with the St.
Stream in Masardis. From this point, the river
Francis River and the Big Rapids were mostly
was fully ice covered for about 16 miles up to at
open. From this point upstream to about Moody
least the Oxbow, where our observations ceased.
bridge, the ice appeared very rotted with many
The entire ice cover appeared to be a single
small open leads. The remaining ice-covered
layer of frazil pans formed by juxtaposition, with
reach, up to the Daaquam River and the Baker
very little evidence of pushes or shoves. We ob-
Branch, showed no open channels and no indi-
served no areas of massive frazil deposition in the
cation of breakup.
river. During 2124 January, we measured a con-
The ice remaining above Dickey, up to the
sistent solid ice thickness of 2224 in. We found
vicinity of the Big Black River, broke up and ran
no frazil deposits; the previously open reach from
on 20 April, jamming from the Allagash River
Ashland to Masardis was now fully covered.
confluence area up to Dickey at 1800 hours. This
Ice thicknesses were again measured on 24 and
ice released early on 21 April and re-jammed
25 March at random locations from the New
above the ledges in St. John near the Fort Kent
Brunswick border to the Oxbow. The solid ice
line. A major jam at the PriestlyDeadwater area
thickness now ranged from 2433 in., with an
let go and ran through Allagash on the 22 April,
additional lone measurement of 16 in. The 1/2-
causing the jam at the ledges to release and run
mile reach below the dam in Caribou was now
through Fort Kent. A massive jam of ice from
about 50% ice covered.
the Northwest and Southwest branches ran by
Moody bridge at about 1230 hours on 22 April
and went through Allagash and Fort Kent dur-
BREAKUP OBSERVATIONS
ing the afternoon on 23 April. The upper river
was ice free at this time and all the ice running
St. John River
Ice breakup was slow, orderly and relatively
downstream continued to move. No ice-related
uneventful, with no overbank flooding reported
flooding was reported.
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