04 MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW. FEBRUARY, 1918
result of this gorge traffic was suspended on the Juniata highway bridge which crosses the Juniata River near its mouth to Duncans Irland, and also on the covered highway bridge at Clarks Ferry, which spans the Susquehanna from Duncans Island to the eavtern shore. ‘lhe Che- mung ice broke at Corning about 3 a. m. of the 13th and moved slowly down the river, forming ice jams, which broke as the water accumu- lated behind them, re-formed and broke again. Frank Gray and two boys who were with him narrowly escaped drowning, being caught by the ice flood on the flats between Lowman and Wellsbuy while driving a tern. ‘They were finally rescued b men in boats. 1 he hnrses also were saved. This ice flood reach4 dwanda on the night of the 13th, the ice breaking there about 9 p. m. of that day and movin out on a stage of about 13 feet. It reached Wilkee-Barre on the night d t h e 14th, passin on a stage of about 18 feet. The flood water frcm the Juniata graduily lifted the ice in the Susquehanna River below Duncannon, the break a t Harrisbur occumn at 3:15 a. m. of the 15th on a stage of about 11 feet. The ice from the Ciemun River and the North Branch
’ below Athelia reached the main river arfy on the morning of the lGth and began to pass Harrisburg about 3 p. m. of that date, the river reach- ing a maximum stage of 15.3 feet at 6 p. m. ‘I his flood lifted the gorge at the mouth of the Juniata and all the ice from the Juniata, Chemung, and the North Branch, to ther with most of that in the main river below Sunbury, lod ed at gquea, a short distance below the mouth of Conestop Creek, d o u t 55 milea below Harrisburg, forming a great orge mid to have been 20 or more feet in thickness and several miles fong. This gorge cau.sed serious flooding at Safe Harbor and vicinity, the railroad tracks there being several feet under water and ice for three or four days. The ice in the Weet Branch broke at Clearfield at 1 p. m. on February 13, t.he river there reaching a maximum stage of 9.1 feet, elightlv above floodgoint. At Renovo the break occiirred about 4 30 m. of the 13th. The ice continued to move Elowly, iling u and breakng and finally lodging, jamming the channel from Yersey &ow almost to Lock Haven with a gorge faid to rmge in thickness from 10 to about 20 feet. Follow- ing a short eriod of warm weather with rain on the 19th and 20th, the water m e gehind the gorge at JerFey Shore, causing serioils Boodin at points above, particularlv at Lock Haven, where the water reache! a stage of about 21 feet, flooding the milroad tracks to a de th of Peveral feet and cawin the suepension of all trains on tho Norgern Central aud New York fentral Rdroada. The water covered most of the town to a depth of several feet. Some houees in the lower art of the city had water almoFt to the Eecond floor. A cold wave witfi zero tempera- ture on the night of the 20th cawed the water in the houees to freezo to a thickness UuEaent to permit people to ekate on it. The light plant wan flooded, snd the people were without light and in many caFes without fuel. The mayor of Lock Haven appealed for help, which waa speedily furnirhed, but much suffering and eome &knees resulted and the damage to pro rty WBF yt. The lower part of the Jersey Shore gorge broke on night o Febniary 20. p s i n g ’cl’illiam?port on a Etage of 21.4 feet, 1.4 feet abo\e the flood point. This break did not immediately relieve the Eerious sitcation at Lock Haven, as the upper part of ihe Wrge held until about 3.30 p. m. of the 21st. During tho 15 minutes follpwhg this break the water fell 4 feet on the I m k Haven gage. The ice from the Wet Branch began to pase.Hnrrirburg during the afternoon of the !&t, the river rearhing a maximrm stage of 14.1 feetat3a.m.of the22dandremainingstationaryuntilafternoon, when it began to fall slowly. This flood o ned a channel on the west side of the river at Pequea, and the river Ere fell ra idly on thc 22d. Probably many Fmall gorgea or jame formed of whicfi no information was received. The greatel;t damage to ro erty occurred behind the Jersey Shore go rincipallv at Loci &wen, where it probably amounted to Sl8&! Many hi~hway hndpes were damn& md a
few wera destroyed, and eome rollway bridges were damaged. The Pennsylvania Railroad bridge c m i n g (‘oncetoga Creek near Pequea sank about 2 feet while a freight train waa crossing it eoon after the broke. accurate estimate of the damage cawed by ice floods isimposible, but it is believed It i R connervrti\.e to say that the loss in the Susque- hanna watershed was at least 5300,000.
Considering the great accumulation of snow and the thickness of ice on the streams the damage WBB much less than might have been reason- ably expected under the circumstances. A general and heavy rain over the watershed with hi h temperatures would have cauwd a dis- astrous flood. Actually butkwplaces suffered, and the waters reached flood stage only over compwauvely short stretchea.-E. R. Demuin, Mehmlopirt in Charge.
DELAWARE AND SCHUYLKILL RIVERS.
PhWelphia, Pa., river dktt+t.
Early in Februarv, 1918, there wae a mow covering of about 30
inches over the headwaters of all of the streams. The snow was solid and hold a large water content, being the accumulatione of thz Decem- ber and January enom.
It eo happened that the BDOW melted a little at a time in three or four periodr, and withoKt rains of coneeqiience: €0 that the ice. which waa
the heal-iept in many years, broke iip and pn9eed out with compara- tively little ob#tri.rtion and with no material damnyo. Jams were rcported in the Lehiph Riwr a t the Parryville dam and at Treichler’s, h t neither m e of a eerioiv character. A large amount of ice backed up in the Frhuylkill a t Philadelphin, hut asted ont on a eitdden rice and without dnmage. The Eart Brsnch orthe Delaware at Rrhs Eddy,
N. Y., rope to 16 fcBet on the 20th (the flood Pt e heing 10 feet), b i t the water and the ice passed oi!t with onlv rlight%mage. A t Hale Eddy, N. Y., on the West Branch of the Delawars, the water rose to 13.4 feet on the 20th iflood stage being 12 feet). Thwe waters eeemed to epread oiit farther down the river, and at Pnrt Jervis the highest stnge was 9 feet (flood 5twe being IS feet), while at Phillipsbiirg (junction of the Delaware and Trhigh) there was a stage of 15 feet on the 21st, or 7 feet below the food stage. The Schfiylkill ro9e high enough at Mmyunk, Philadelphia, on the 21st to temporarily eiis end operations in neveral mills. Warnings were given to the police xepartment on the 20th and movable property aae taken care of. These were the only warnings issued and were the only ones practicable.-George 6. Blie8, dlcfeorologisl in Churge.
POTOMAC:RIVER.
A short spell of mild temperature with light rain on February 10 melted much of the snow in the watershed above Washington, D. C. Nild tempeiature on the 11th and 12th, without rain, caused a break-up in the ice on the 13th from Cumberland, hld., to below Harpere Ferry, W. Va.
Febnrary 1.9, 1918.--Tce broke up at 2:00 a. m. and a gorge formed from Chain Bridge nearly to the Aqueduct Bridge, gorged from Rock Creek to Highway Bridge; water 0 feet above bank at Chain Bridge and ice left G feet deep from river to canal bank. Gorgee broke in placeR during the day and reformed at night. A firm gorge formed‘ against Acqueduct Bridge during the night of February 13-14 and extended to Iiighway Bridge on the District of Columbia side. The old channel on the Virginia side of Analoetan Island cleared about 5.00
a. m. and alloM-ed the flow of the river to go by that channel. Before the old channel on the Virginia side cleared, the ice was iled up 3 to4 feet above the river wall at thegage, Twenty-seventh anZG Streets, and would probably have gone 5 feet higher i f the Virginia channel had not cleared. The water was 3.5 feet dee on 6 Street and Thirty- first Street, but stores were not flooded beloweighth and Pennsylvam Avenue. February 16, 1918.-Some small gorgea still held between Chain Bridge and Aqueduct Bridge. FeOruary 18, 1918.-Channel on District of Columbia aide cleared from Acqueduct Bridge to Highway Bridge. All house b a t e on the river were crushed by the ice aud all boat houses, except three, were practically destroyed. Many dredges were carried down the river, but most of these were recovered later. Loss to house-boats estimated at $1,500. Loss to boathouses estimated at $15,000. Lose to barges, storm, and business houaea on K Street estimated at
$38,20O.--A. J . Henry, Meieorologist in Charge.
JAMES RIVER.
Richowl, Vu.., river dk&.
The winter of 1917-18 to date haa been unusually severe. Tem- peratures low enoiigh to form ice on the various rivere of the State, were general in the latter part of November and from that time on until early in February, they continued low. In the river district under the supervision of this office (James River) the ice steadily in- creased in thicknesa during December, 1917, the coldeat month of that name of record in this State, and also through January, 1918, and it was
not until January 26, 1918, that the day temperatures became high enough to caiise melting of the ice. On this date, also, a six-day period of precipitation, which came partly as rain and partly as snow or sleet, set in. Fortunately, how- ever, the night temperatures durin this period were at freezing, or below, and this checked the run-od and prevented an sudden rise in the river and breaking up and gorging of the ice. &om the clme of January to Februar 6 freezing weather kept the ice intact, but on the last-named date d e day temperaturea m e and a general and de- cided thaw set in, checked as before by cool nights. The snow cover in the watershed, wllich was practically continuous from the middle of December iiiitil this time, and uniisually heavy, disappeared rapidly and the resulting run-off soon reached the Jamea, lihng the ice and starting i t downstream. The situation thus heeame full of danpr and was a source of anxiety to this office, and tho people of the cit~ea and
95 Ibnum, 1018. MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW.
towns alon the river bank. Ice gorges formed on February 8 at Indian Ro& and Sabot; on the 9th at Cilasgow; and on the 10th at Colemans Palls and Hatton, with ice reported to be from 18 inches to 91 fec2t thick, which piled up at some points to a height of 6 feet or more above the water. A continued though slow rise in the river broke these goqes on the list-named date and they moved doyn- stream to tidewater. being further broken in this p w g e over mrioiis shoals and rapids. These fields of broken ice pssed by Richmond for seveml days prior to Febniar 12, when the river was clew here, but they lodged again at Dutch Jap, about 95 miles below tlis city. and interrupted navigation on the l?th.-E. A . Evans, .Veteorologial in
Chayc.
SUMMARY.
The essential facts established by the forcgoin reports
in December, 1917, and continued without important moderation until about the first of February, 1018. The extreme miniiiia for the t h e and place during n period of almost half a century were reached in localities throughout the Ohio Valley. It is probable that a low minimum teniperature is not so effective in causing ice foiiiiation as coiisecutive nights of teinperatur~s below
a certain value mhicb may be called the critical iumiiiiuiii. In the vicinity of Washington, D. C., u minimuill tcm-
perature of 30" I?., in a theriiioiiictcr shelter, on three consecutive nights will cause ice several inches in thick- ness to fom in strenms of running. water. The IiieaIi
niininiuiii toni ernture n t ('incinnnti, Ohio , Deceinber, 1917, was 18.9 F.; Januttry, 1918, 8.3' F. As a result of this long period of low- teiiiperature the ice in the pools along the streaim attained great thick- ness and contiiiued firiii throughout the (.old period. The gorged ice likewise became solidified nncl capable of reat resistance to pressure from upstrenni. 'I he break-up fegan on the southern tributaries of the Ohio ns the direct result of moderate rains, separated bp nn interval of but
24 hours. The temperature at the tiiiie of tho rain was not greatly above the freezing point, and i t remained above freezing but a short tinie; consequently there was no opportunity for the ice to becoiiie soft and honey- combed. As a result the ice which passed into the Ohio froni southern tributaries. niid that which broke up in the main stream, was unusually film and in arent cakes. Sonie idea of the size of the cakes riiay be ha8 froiii fig. i .
The northern tributaries of the Ohio rei?lcained; firni
during the critical period and contributcd veryalittle water to the trunk streani.
are as follows: A period of escessively cold weat f cr set in
!?
The ice in the trunk stream broke up in sections &nd on moderately low stages. It is probable that the low stages and the reduced velocity of 'the current was a
factor in conserving the size of the ice blocks and in pre- ventinm a material reduction in the ice floes by attrition. The foss, including suspension of business, due to the breaking up and passing out of the ice, suimiiarized by districts, follows:
Pittsburgh. Pa.. ............................ $300,000 Parkersburg. 11:. Ira ........................... 9, GOO Cincinnati, Ohio. ............................ 1, 9SSl 000 Louisville. Ky .............................. 305,000 Evansville, Ind .............................. 127,905 Cairo. I11 ..................................... 421,7MJ
Total for the Ohio.. .................... 3,212,205
It seenis to hare been the alinost universal esperience along the river, that the minter mooring pliices of river craft were unsafe when the break-up in the ice came. The on1 exception was at Louisville, Icy., where it is re ortei" tlint craft tot' .I 1 in0 $l,OOi),OOO in value found safety in the Portland CanaT. The loss on the hfississi pi due to ice gorges while not so heavy ns in the lower R hio was yet considerable. See report of S. C. Enicry, of the Memphis, Tenn., district ip, 92). The find break-u > of ire in tliu northern tributaries of the Ohio and the A II! ississippi :Ibove St. Louis wtis accnni- dished without serious clminge or loss clue, it is belicied, iargely to the fact that the ice in those streanis had become more or less honeyconihed and soft by spells of thawing weather in February. At the close of that month the ice had not yet gone out of the Jlissouri above Omaha, Pu'ebr. , although its condition promised an early break-up. By March 11 the river WRY open to Sioux City, Iowa. At the end of Febi-uary the Mississippi was practically free of ice south o€ Davenport, Iowa. Ice at that place went out on March 2, and by Jfarch 12 tho ice. had broken up as far north ais St. Yuul, nltliough the riror at,
La Crosse, Wis., hncl not )-et cleared. The €Iudson was free of ice n t Albnny md Tro also the lower Mohnwlc; but ice still held nbore chenec- tady and in the lower Hudson. The upper reaches oi New England streanis were icebound at the close of the month.
6, N. y .J