On January 17, 1997, the Loup River at the Hwy. 14 bridge at Fullerton was completely frozen over with some snow cover. As reported on January 16, 1997, the Loup River at Genoa is ice covered with no open water. The Genoa gauge reads 8.5' and the Loup Power Canal is bypassing about 3,000 cfs. There is an ice bridge between the Power Canal headworks and the Hwy. 39 bridge. This has caused some lowland flooding which is now frozen. At Monroe the Loup River is ice covered with no open water. In the Columbus area the Loup is ice covered with flat ice which is 12-14" thick. In some areas pressures have forced the ice to form two layers. Below Columbus at the Hwy. 79 bridge near North Bend the Lower Platte River is ice covered with a small 10' channel along the north bank. The ice is smooth and is partially snow covered. Similar conditions were reported for the Hwy. 77 bridge in the Fremont area. A small channel was open along the north bank in the Big Island area. Below Fremont on January 16, 1997, on the Lower Platte River, three miles above the Hwy. 64 bridge both channels were frozen over except for a small open channel. Upstream the channel was 6'-15' wide and 100' long. Downstream the channel was 2'-30' wide and 1,000' long. Ice was reported to be in good condition with no decay or signs of cracking. At the Hwy. 92 bridge the east channel was frozen over. The west channel had two small open leads on either bank. The west bank lead 8'-15' wide and about 1,000' long. The east bank lead was 20'-100' wide and about 2,000' long.

In the Elkhorn River Basin an ice bridge formed near the Cuming/Dodge County line on November 26, 1996. Slab ice continued to add to the top of the bridge which on January 15, 1997, was near the Hwy. 32 bridge in the West Point area. The ice is snow covered and some decay had been noted as a result of prior moderating weather. Some minor lowland flooding had been reported earlier but now the situation seems to be stabilized. Below West Point, at Hooper the river on January 16, 1997, was ice covered with a small open area. At Hwy. 30 the Elkhorn River is ice covered with a small open channel upstream from the bridge. Some conditions were present at the Hwy. 36 bridge. The Elkhorn was ice covered at Hwy. 64 except for a small open channel 2'-10' wide and 400' long located upstream from the bridge. The mouth of the Elkhorn was ice covered. USGS measured 12" ice here early in January.

On January 16, 1997, the Lower Platte River three and a half miles upstream from Hwy. 6 was reported ice covered with the exception of a small open lead up and downstream along the south bank. On January 15, 1997 the Platte mainsteam near the Hwy. 6 bridge was reported completely frozen over and was covered with about 2 1/2" snow. The Lower Platte River at the Interstate 80 bridge was almost completely frozen over with a few small open leads. The partially snow covered ice was very smooth with no signs of decay reported. In the South Bend area, border ice was reported with a 5% open channel. At Louisville, in addition to border ice, small channels were open on both banks at and downstream from the Hwy. 50 bridge. Above the bridge there was a small (5%) open channel upstream from to South Bend. On the Sarpy County side near the Hwy. 50 bridge ice heaving and overtopping of the ice was reported. Slabs were about 8" thick. Below Louisville in the Cedar Creek area smooth ice with no signs of decay was reported. In the Plattsmouth area at the Hwy. 75 bridge, 15% of the channel was open with some floating ice. Border ice was present as well as slowly moving frazil ice.

Generally the Missouri River on January 16, 1997 above Plattsmouth was 65-70% filled with floating ice. Below Plattsmouth the river was 55-60% ice covered. Releases from Gavin's Point average 24,900 cubic feet per second.