Ice Jams Could Cause Late Winter Flooding on Some Maine Rivers

As much of Maine continues to deal with brutally cold temperatures, some meteorologists are pointing out that these temperatures could lead to bigger problems in late winter or early spring.

According to an article on the WCSH 6 website, because the cold temperatures have caused our rivers to be completely frozen, there is a good chance that we could see ice jams on many of our Maine rivers.  These ice jams could end up causing flooding.

The article explains that, for now, the temperatures are near (or below) freezing.  So, our rivers will remain frozen.  However, within a few weeks, that will begin to change.

With warmer temperatures on the way and February’s stronger sun beating down, river ice could start to loosen and drift in the coming weeks.

Ice jams happen when that moving ice runs into a bend or a narrow stretch of river. The ice stacks up like frozen traffic, blocking the flow of water. When that happens, water can back up upstream and trigger flooding.

Conditions like this are what causes epic flooding like that was experienced in April of 1987.  Hopefully, is there is flooding, it won't be anywhere near that devastating incident.  That incident caused millions of dollars in damage and it took months, if not years, to recover from.

This video shows what it was like:

Obviously, as the weather warms we will get a better idea of what kind of flooding, if any, our lower lying areas may be facing.