VALLEY, Neb (KMTV) — After a long cold snap Nebraska is finally starting to thaw.
As the snow melts away the National Weather Service is paying close attention to what’s happening on the Platte River.
“We look at the snow pack, we look at temperatures, we look at if the ground is frozen, what are current river levels and we also look at ice thickness,” said Clint Aegertir with the National Weather Service.
Most folks who were living in Nebraska in 2019 can probably guess what comes next.
The warmer weather, snow melting, and precipitation on the way is creating conditions that could lead to ice jams.
Ice jams are when large chunks of the river that have frozen break apart and accumulate, obstructing the rivers flow and sending the water out of its banks.
And even though the warmer temperatures aren’t getting here for a few days the ice is already flowing.
The National Weather Service is going to be monitoring water levels from Columbus out to the Missouri River but they say folks should pay special attention to the stretch of the Platte River near Fremont.
“Ice is moving now. It could happen as early as this weekend we could start to see some river rises,” aid Aegertir.
With the floods of 2019 fresh in many folks minds its easy to think the worst but Aegertir says that while conditions are similar, the ice pack in the river isn’t nearly as thick as during those catastrophic floods.
“We just had some ice thickness measurements from USGS a few days ago that shows anywhere from 10 to 12 inches or so. It’s kind of thick but not crazy thick. A lot of people want to compare it to 2019 but it was two feet and three feet thick in many places that year and we are not in that territory,” said Aegertir.
