January 28, 2005-6^th Report

For the week of January 24-28, 2005

Summary Lower Platte River Ice Report

Loup River – No report.

Elkhorn River –At Hwy 30 at Arlington there is a 20’ to 25’ wide open channel downstream of the bridge in the middle of the river approximately 50’ long. At Hwy 36 there are no open channels; yet there is visible standing water on top of the ice. At Hwy 64 there is no evidence of decay in the ice. At Hwy 92 there is a 2’ to 4’ wide open channel upstream of the bridge near the West bank that is 50’ long. There is a 2’ to 4’ wide open channel downstream of the bridge near the West bank that angles across the river and is about 1000’ long. At the confluence of Elkhorn and Platte Rivers there is a 20’ to 100’ wide open channel in the Elkhorn River extending from the confluence about 0.5 miles upstream near the West bank. This open channel continues downstream in the Platte River along the East bank downstream of Capehart Road about 0.25 miles and is about 15’ to 100’ wide.

Platte River – At Hwy 79 near North Bend there are no open channels. The ice is smooth and the snow cover previously on the ice has melted. At Hwy 77 there is still a small open channel near the North bank, west of the bridge. The channel is approximately 300’ long and 15-20’ wide. The rest of the river in that area is solid, smooth ice. The snow that covered the ice previously has since melted. At the Union Dike, ¼ mile West of Hwy 275 and 3.1 miles upstream of Hwy 64 holes were bored in the ice at this location on 1/26/05; the ice thickness varied from 7” to 17”. At the Hwy 92 bridge there is a 4’ wide open channel near the East bank of the river upstream of the bridge that angles across the river under the bridge and continues downstream along the East bank of the island for about 1,000’. There is also a 4’ to 15’ wide open channel both upstream and downstream of the bridge in the West channel near the West bank that is approximately 1,000’ long. At the confluence of Elkhorn and Platte Rivers there is a 20’ to 100’ wide open channel in the Elkhorn River extending from the confluence about 0.5 miles upstream near the West bank. This open channel continues downstream in the Platte River along the East bank downstream of Capehart Road about 0.25 miles and is about 15’ to 100’ wide. At ¼ mile North of Fairview Road and 3.5 miles upstream of Hwy 6 holes were bored in the ice at this location on 1/26/05. The ice thickness ranged from 7” to 12”. There is visible standing water on top of the ice near the West side of the river. At Hwy 50 at Louisville there are good channels along both sides and mid river. Considerable broken ice against sandbars and the ice is dirty. At the Cedar Creek Dike there are still good open channels along both sides with the main channel crossing right to left at mid dike. It appears to be about the same as last week’s report.