Both 1998 and 2001 had a fairly similar monthly jam
May
distribution, with 30% of ice jams in March and 11% in
2%
February.
Nov
Dec
Apr
1%
March 2003 had a total of 63 ice events, with 22 of
7%
8%
those ice events occurring in New York State. March's
ice jams occurred almost every day between the fifth and
Jan
the 26th, with seven jams reported on the 18th and eight
14%
jams reported on the 21st.
Where Did Ice Jams Occur in 20022003?
Ice jams were reported in 17 states during WY 2003
(Fig. 4a). New York had 35 reported ice jams, more than
any other state. Maine had 28 ice jams; Pennsylvania,
Ohio, and Alaska had 19, 12, and 10 events, respectively.
All other states had four or fewer events (Fig. 3).
Feb
The combination of runoff and above-freezing tem-
Mar
22%
46%
peratures led to a few ice jams around the New York
region on 23 February. Hydrographs indicated that ice
moved and jammed on the following watersheds: Buffalo
Creek at Gardenville, Cazenovia Creek at Ebeneezer,
Cattaraugus Creek at Gowanda, Rondout Creek at
Figure 2. Months in which ice jams were most frequently
Rosendale, and Walkill River at Gardiner (NWS 2003a).
reported in WY 2003.
Twenty-two of New York's jams occurred in March
when ice covers broke up in the rivers. Eighteen of these
22 events happened between the 16th and 26th of the month. Flooding of roads, yards, fields, cellars, and low areas were
reported in seven of the events.
Eight of Pennsylvania's jams were on the Allegheny River, which had the most reported jams in 2003. Tied for second,
with seven events each, were the Mohawk River in New York and the Aroostook River in Maine. The St. John River in
Maine came in third with six ice jams reported, while the Yellowstone River in Montana reported five jams (Fig. 4b).
Allegheny River, Pennsylvania
Five of the eight ice events on the Allegheny River were freezeup jams occurring in January. On 21 January, the
National Weather Service reported a long freezeup jam on the Allegheny River that extended from Tionesta to nine miles
upstream, with the ice 4 to 6 feet thick at the base of the jam (NWS 2003b, c). On the same day, Oil City had a two-mile-long
freezeup jam. Another freezeup jam, reported on 24 January, extended from Brady's Bend up the Allegheny River about five
miles to Hillville. This large freezeup jam was still in place on 28 January (NWS 2003d). Again on 28 January, another
freezeup jam was reported from Reno north for two miles (NWS 2003e).
Cattaraugus Creek, New York
On 7 March 2003, Larry Sherman from the Buffalo District Corps of Engineers, NYSDEC, and the Town of Hanover,
New York, met to discuss pros and cons of breaking up the river/lake ice at Sunset Bay (Irving), New York. The confluence
of Cattaraugus Creek and Lake Erie at Sunset Bay is the site of frequent ice jams. By early March, the ice on Cattaraugus
Creek was between 2 and 2.5 feet thick and the ice on the lake was reported to be 4 feet thick off of Cattaraugus Creek.
Ten days later, a breakup ice jam occurred at Sunset Bay. On 18 March water had backed up as a result of the jammed
ice (NWS 2003f). The ice had moved out to the lake, leaving behind mud and ice debris. Because many of the homes in
Sunset Bay are elevated, the damage was limited. However, a Buffalo News article on 19 March 2003 (Thomas 2003)
reported that in Hanover, "Roughly 400 people from 200 homes were evacuated Monday night." The Buffalo News also
mentioned that Steven D'Angelo (Town of Hanover disaster coordinator) "estimated that 30 homes had 50 percent damage or
more." Most of the damage was limited to vast amounts of mud, and some homes had water in their garages and basements
(Ploetz and Warner 2003) (Fig. 5).
2
ERDC/CRREL TN-04-5
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