Looking back: ice jams and flooding along the river

It’s been a while since weather conditions created ice jams and winter flooding on the White River, but history indicates the trouble used to appear with greater frequency from Meeker all the way to Rangely. The last mention we can find of ice jam flooding in the Herald’s archives is from 2011. 

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers flood records indicate jams occurred in Meeker in 1951, 1962, 1973, 1979, 1982, 1984, 1989, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2011. The majority of the incidents occurred in late January. 

The 1973 flood resulted in river water overflowing into uncapped trailer park sewer lines and overwhelming the wastewater treatment plant.  

The 1979 Meeker freeze up is described as “the worst flood in memory” and caused “about $50,000 in damages.” Attempts to break up the ice with dynamite were unsuccessful in 1982, ice was reported as being 5-6 feet thick in a freeze up that extended more than four miles along the river’s course.

According to the Town of Rangely’s website, ice jam flooding was observed as far back as 1891, with severe flooding in 1955 and 1962. The HT archives for the Rangely Times are missing for both of those years, thus we have been unable to confirm anecdotal reports that the National Guard was brought in and that “sonic booms” from low-flying jets were used to break up the ice. Flooding in March of 1983 in Rangely was ameliorated with dynamite. The ice jam that year was estimated to be ¼ mile long.

While the Taylor Draw Dam was not constructed for flood protection, since its completion in 1984, “there has been no ice jamming that resulted in flooding of the Rangely area.”

The proliferation of ice jams along the White contributed to a long-held claim that “the White River freezes from the bottom up,” a story oft-repeated about the Spearfish River in South Dakota, the Madison River in Montana, the Clearwater River in Idaho, and a few others. 

The legend likely stems from observations of the formation of anchor ice and frazil ice in shallow, supercooled, turbulent water with rocky streambeds. 

Frazil ice is described as needle-like ice crystals that mix with moving water to create a slushy consistency. Some of those ice crystals stick together to form frazil pans, others adhere to the bottom of the streambed to form anchor ice. Obstructions in the river, like bridge supports, create places for frazil ice and anchor ice, as well as loose border ice and sheet ice, to collect as it floats downstream. If enough ice gathers to slow or block the flow coming from upstream, flooding can occur as water flowing seeks a way around the ice jam and spreads into low-lying areas along the river or gorges over the ice and freezes, adding to the jam. 

The risk of flash flooding from an ice jam occurs when significant water has built up behind the ice jam and is released suddenly due to warming or other condition changes. The Roaring Fork River has been on watch for that kind of flooding this month. 

Is the notion that the White River “freezes from the bottom up” merely local legend? It is possible, given a long enough, cold enough period of time for a body of water to freeze solid. We can’t say for certain that has ever occurred along the entirety of the river’s course. It’s more likely that some sections of the river have frozen solid for brief periods of time, or that the formation of anchor ice along the riverbed was interpreted by observers as “freezing from the bottom up.”

BY NIKI TURNER | [email protected]