Watching the River

Peace River has received its annual river freeze-up advisory. It's a little earlier than last year due to the unseasonably cold weather.

The ice front is advancing quite quickly and could be within the Town limits as early as this weekend, so Town staff are on river watch and preparations are being made for freeze-up.

When the river freezes, the level goes up (think about what happens when you put ice cubes in a glass of water), so this is a time when we all watch things carefully. What we hope for is that the cold weather continues long enough for the ice cover to be well-established and that we don't get a rapid warm snap until the ice front is well past the Town. With those conditions, the problems associated with a second ice consolidation are less.

River observations are available on the Alberta Environment website. When you click on the map link and hover the mouse over each star, you'll see photos of the river at that location from the last flight (which was on December 18th). Interesting stuff for river watchers.