The Kankakee River ice jam is no more. Two days ago the temperature in Illinois soared to a record breaking 60 degrees; this on the heels of weeks of sub-zero temperatures that had frozen the river solid. As  the thermometer climbed, the ice began to melt and crack, piling up in giant slabs that backed up the water and caused flooding upstream. Ice collected in a mountainous heap in front of Dad’s house and by midday the rising water began to push ice onto shore, in the process taking out everything in its path. At 8 p.m., Dad checked the water level and discovered it was over the dock and was rising fast. We held our breaths and prepared to leave if necessary, but by 10 p.m. the water was receding. Dad speculated that the locks downstream had been opened up to relieve the flooding.

Backed up ice pushes into the cove, creating a mini-glacier

By yesterday morning, all the ice on the far side of the island had been swept downstream and the river was again flowing, but the cove in front of Dad’s house still looked like a glacier, with jagged ice stretching from the shore to the island. Soon, the swift currents on the far side of the island began eating away at the ice in the cove. Before long, half the distance between Dad’s dock and the island had opened up. I pulled on boots, bundled up in two coats to keep warm in temperatures that were once again down to freezing, and grabbed my camera. At the shoreline, huge sheets of ice split and fell into the river, crashing into one another like a giant demolition derby. Further out, mini icebergs calved from larger mounds and floated away. The air was filled with crackling and popping that reminded me of Read the rest of this entry »

Unless this crazy weather pattern stops, I’m afraid my family is going to run me out of town on a rail for fear that I am a jinx. To begin with, this has been Illinois’ coldest December in many years. The Kankakee River, which runs right by my Dad’s front door, NEVER freezes before January. But the recent long string of sub-zero days caused the river to freeze over in mid-December this year.

Yesterday morning, with the temperatures still below freezing, I watched a three wheeler zipping down the ice out in the middle of the river. Later that afternoon the temperatures started to climb and kept climbing. By noon today, it was 60 degrees outside and the ice was rapidly melting. Not long afterward, from his spot in front of the picture window overlooking the river, Dad said, “Here it comes. The ice is breaking up.” I rushed over to see. Looking across the glassy surface, I spotted a narrow band of broken up ice slowly floating past the island that marks the midpoint of the river.

Grabbing the camera, I ran outside and looked upstream. The ice moved slowly at first, crackling and popping as sheets split apart. Expanses of water opened up, releasing pent up flood waters that had backed up behind the ice floe. Raging waters and 40 mph buffeting winds forced ice chunks to tumble on top of one another and build up into jagged mountains. Giant tree branches and tree trunks protruded from the floe as it raced downstream, threatening the houses across the river that are at a lower elevation.

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