Ice jams, which can keep NWT communities guessing even in years of low water, haven’t been an issue so far as the Hay River melts, the territorial government says.
In some years, the way the ice melts can cause ice to block the river and send floodwater spilling out. If the blockage is bad enough, that can mean a flood even in a drought year like 2024.
Issuing a spring melt update on Wednesday, the NWT government said ice jams haven’t been seen on the Hay River from satellite imagery – and breakup is proceeding in a straightforward fashion so far.
“Ice appears to be degrading thermally” on the river, the GNWT stated.
Thermal breakup means warm and sunny weather gradually erodes the ice. This usually results in less chance of an ice jam than the alternative, mechanical breakup, where ice from the south flows north and bumps into harder ice that hasn’t been exposed to the same warmth. In a mechanical breakup, floating ice is more likely to dam up the river when it reaches packed ice and cause a flood.
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The snowpack has “almost entirely melted” across the Hay River basin, the GNWT’s updated states, with the exception of the area immediately around the town and a small section of the Caribou Hills.
The Chinchaga River, which is Hay River’s largest tributary, is now free of ice.
Water levels in the river system are rising but the rate is low and water levels “remain extremely low for this time of year,” the GNWT added. A small amount of rainfall is forecast in the southern part of the basin on Wednesday and Thursday.
Breakup has also been “mostly thermal” on the Peace and Athabasca rivers, the GNWT stated.
Elsewhere, no significant concerns were reported as spring melt continues.
