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Ice Jams on the Missouri River

24 Jan 2025 3:11 PM | Melissa Sieben (Administrator)

The Corps is currently tracking three ice jams on the Missouri River described in order from upstream to downstream (below). Included are descriptions with either USACE stage plots or NWS plots. Since these are ice-affected rivers, please disregard the flows, which are NOT accurate.

1.  Above Sioux City near Ponca, NE. The Ponca, NE gage shows some evidence of ice blockage, which had held up water flowing to Sioux City. Ponca gage plot: https://www.nwd-mr.usace.army.mil/rcc/plots/jpegs/pone.jpg. At Sioux City, IA, water with 30% floating ice was moving through Sioux City and the gage has returned to a more normal level following the drop that occurred on Jan. 21. Sioux City gage plot: https://www.nwd-mr.usace.army.mil/rcc/plots/jpegs/sux.jpg.

2.  Below Blair, NE. A large ice jam has been in place somewhere below Blair (RM 648) and above north Omaha (RM 627). The jam extends upstream to somewhere near Blencoe, IA. The river stage at Blair has risen about 1.5 feet since Thursday afternoon. Blair gage plot: https://www.nwd-mr.usace.army.mil/rcc/plots/jpegs/blne.jpg. The river stage at Decatur, NE (RM 691) has also risen due to addition ice stacking up downstream. Decatur gage plot: https://www.nwd-mr.usace.army.mil/rcc/plots/jpegs/dene.jpg.

3.  South Omaha, NE. An ice jam is occurring somewhere near RM 606 and has backed up ice through the Omaha riverfront. Stages continue to be high at the Omaha gages (Omaha: https://water.noaa.gov/gauges/OMHN1; Highway 92: https://water.noaa.gov/gauges/MOMN1); however, a stage drop of 3 feet continues downstream at Bellevue, NE due to the upstream ice jam. Bellevue: https://water.noaa.gov/gauges/MTLN1.

Temperatures will moderate over the weekend with daytime highs in the mid 30s (deg F) and overnight lows in the teens to 20s before a warm-up on Monday. The Gavins Point release of 14,000 cfs will be extended again through noon on Tuesday, January 28. The Corps MRBWM office will re-evaluate this release plan on Monday and Tuesday morning. As a reminder, the USACE Gavins Point and Missouri River forecast can be found at: https://www.nwd-mr.usace.army.mil/rcc/reports/pdfs/GRFT.pdf. Official river forecasts for the Missouri River issued by the National Weather Service may be found at: https://www.weather.gov/mbrfc/.  

This information was supplied to MOARC by PortKC


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