The Lower Loup River at the Highway 81 bridge south of Columbus is all ice covered with no open channel. In the Schuyler area at the Highway 15 bridge the Lower Platte mainstem has a small open channel. The ice is rough but is snow covered. Some cracks near the bridge were reported. Rough, slabbed ice was reported in the Fremont area with no open channel. Water level has slowly risen in the past few days. Along the Union dike below Fremont and 3.1 miles above the Highway 64 bridge, the Papio NRD reported the ice thickness to be 12-23" thick. Much shore ice was noted at this location. A small pool was open but looking downstream there was total ice cover. Downstream at the Highway 92 bridge some open water was reported for the west channel but the east channel was all ice covered. The Elkhorn River in the Stanton County area is ice covered with 4-8" thick ice under 3-5" of snow cover. Water is flowing under the ice. At West Point at the Highway 32 bridge similar conditions were reported. The ice was smooth with come cracking. Near Arlington at the Highway 30 bridge, a small open channel was reported. Similar conditions were reported for the Elkhorn River at the Highway 36 bridge. Below the point to the mouth very little open channel was reported. Elkhorn levels were rather low with at least 11' of freeboard at the Highway 64 and 92 bridges. On January 30 near Waterloo the Elkhorn was about 50% open with some slush ice. On February 1 at the confluence of the Lower Platte and Elkhorn there was only a 10% channel open. Downstream on the Lower Platte River 3 1/2 miles up from the Highway 6 bridge the river was totally ice covered. The Papio NRD measured the ice to be 9-15" in thickness. The ice was covered with 3-12" of snow. At the Highway 6 bridge the river was all covered by rough, slabbed ice under snow cover. On January 29 at this location the US Geological Survey measured an average ice thickness of 1 1/2'. Considerable slush ice was reported under the ice. Below at the I-80 bridge some open channel was reported. In the Louisville area near the Highway 50 bridge the river channel is ice covered with some small open pools. A week ago this was 40-50% open. Below this point a small open channel was reported. This continued to expand to a 50% open channel at the Highway 75 bridge near Plattsmouth. A large amount of floating ice cakes and slush ice was reported. Water was very turbulent and brown. Along the Missouri River the Omaha District, US Army Corps of Engineers on February 1 reported increased growth of shore ice and floating ice. Below Plattsmouth 70-90% floating ice was reported. LOWER PLATTE RIVER BASIN
Week 4 - Summary Ice Report February 2, 1996