On January 30, the Loup River three miles north of Palmer in Merrick County was ice covered with about 2" of snow. Near the Hwy. 14 bridge in Fullerton last week there was a 20' channel open. This week the channel is about 1/2 frozen over. Also there was some light snow cover. In the Genoa area the Loup Power Canal was taking 1,950 cfs and bypassing 500 cfs. There was a small open channel with water standing on the ice. Signs of decay were noted but the ice was not moving. At the Hwy. 39 bridge south of Genoa previous lowland flooding was still frozen over. Below at Columbus the river was ice covered with pooled water on top.

At the Hwy. 79 bridge near North Bend the Lower Platte River was ice covered with the exception of a small 10-12' channel on the north bank. The partial snow cover was melting and there was water on top of the ice. Below in the Fremont area at the Hwy. 77 bridge the river was ice covered, smooth and snow covered with no sign of decay. There were some open leads along the north bank. Down from Fremont and three miles upstream from the Hwy. 64 bridge the Lower Platte River was still ice covered with some water on top of the ice on January 30. The day before one mile upstream from the Hwy. 64 bridge holes were drilled by the Papio NRD. The average thickness was 1.4' with a maximum depth of 1.6'. Just below the point in the LeShara area the USGS on January 24 determined an average depth 1.3' with a maximum depth of 2.0'. Downstream at the Hwy. 92 bridge the entire east channel was frozen over. The west channel had two open leads along each shore passing downstream.

On the Elkhorn River at Hwy. 32 near West Point the slabbed ice bridge from the county line is still intact. The river is down 8" from the last report. A short distance above Hooper the river was all ice covered with about 5" of snow on top. At the Hwy. 30 bridge there was an open channel up and downstream of the bridge 8-10' wide and 100' long. Above the Hwy. 36 bridge there was a long open lead in the middle of the river 4-10' wide and about 250' long. The Elkhorn River at the Hwy. 64 bridge has two small open channels. Large amounts of trees and other wood debris was reported at the Hwy. 64 bridge piers. At the Hwy. 92 bridge the Elkhorn River was ice covered with two small open channels. Below at the confluence with the Lower Platte conditions were unchanged from last report. The Lower Platte River side of the confluence was totally ice covered. The Elkhorn portion had an open channel about 1,500' long.

Upstream from the Hwy. 6 bridge there was an open channel. Upstream from this point about 300 yards there was a good open channel about 600' long. Some ice movement was suspected. At the Hwy. 6 bridge the Lower Platte River was still ice covered with about 2" of new snow cover. At the Interstate 80 bridge there was a small channel on the Cass County side. This channel went from under the bridge to about 1/2 mile downstream. The intact ice was dirty and decayed with pools of water. Below at the South Bend Railroad bridge much cracking and pooled water were reported. Downstream at the Hwy. 50 bridge near Louisville two wide open channels were reported in addition to 2" of new snow cover on the intact ice. There were small amounts of frazil ice and some overtopped slabs. At Cedar Creek there was a 15-20' open channel on the Cass County side. Downstream at the Hwy. 75 bridge there was a good (50') open channel on the Sarpy County side. The rest of the river was covered with intact ice 6-8" thick.

The Missouri River on January 30 had 15 to 40% floating ice above Omaha and 35 to 50% floating ice below Omaha. Ice thickness varied from 2-10". Gavins Point releases averaged 27,000 cfs.