A large ice jam remained in place on the Mohawk River for much of the month of February and was one of the biggest ice jam seen in decades, according to Union College professor John Garver. The ice jam stretched up to 17 miles from Rexford to Crane Hollow throughout the month in February.
Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
The episode as NWS ALY wrote it up.
A large ice jam remained in place on the Mohawk River for much of the month of February and was one of the biggest ice jam seen in decades, according to Union College professor John Garver. The ice jam stretched up to 17 miles from Rexford to Crane Hollow throughout the month in February. The ice jam mainly remained in place into late February and received a large amount of media and government attention. Albany County was concerned about impacts downstream if the jam were to give way quickly. Temperatures skyrocketing into the 60s and 70s on February 20-21 coupled with around 0.50-1.00 rainfall on the 19th over the Mohawk basin allowed river levels to rise and flooding occurred by the 21st within the Stockade neighborhood of Schenectady and across the river in Scotia, as well as backwater flooding of the Alplaus Kill. A substantial portion of the ice jam gave way during the early morning hours of the 22nd, leading to concern for flooding in the downstream communities, but it turned out that impacts were minimal. There were some road closures in the Rotterdam Junction and Schenectady area due to the ice jam movement and breakage. The remainder of the jam gradually broke up over the next week or so with little impact.
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Albany, NY wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Feb 21, 12:44 AM EST, 3 hours 16 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Albany NY 1244 AM EST Wed Feb 21 2018 .SYNOPSIS... Unseasonable warmth will continue through Wednesday, with record high temperatures expected. Little precipitation will occur for much of the area through Wednesday, except for over parts of the Adirondacks, where occasional showers will pass through. The combination of snowmelt and rainfall may lead to some minor flooding over the higher terrain well north and west of the Capital District. A cold front will pass through late Wednesday, ushering in colder and more seasonable temperatures by Thursday with some snow possible. && .NEAR TERM /UNTIL 6 AM THIS MORNING/... Flood Watch remains in effect through Thursday morning for Herkimer, Hamilton, and northern Warren Counties... As of 1230 AM EST, expect continued dry and mild weather through the overnight hours with passing mid to high level clouds. Have also removed fog from the grids for all locations except across the Mid-Hudson Valley and western Connecticut through the morning hours...this is mainly due to the breezy winds that are continuing along with the passing clouds. Otherwise, tweaked the hourly temps to align them with recent obs and sent updates to NDFD and web servers. Further details regarding the forecast follow... Most of the rain has shifted north of our area and the more solid cloud cover is north of the Mohawk Valley. Some areas of high clouds and light winds are preventing formation of fog but winds should trend to light or calm as winds have done in some areas like KGFL, KSCH, KNY0 and KPOU. Temperatures have dropped quickly in those areas. Made some adjustments to temperatures through the rest of the night based on current data and trends and keeping mention of fog since again, there are indications of potential fog later tonight during periods of thinning high clouds and light winds. Previous AFD has a few more details and is below... Dewpoints will be in the upper 40s to lower 50s, which is highly anomalous for this time of year. Min temps will also be well above normal, ranging from the mid 40s to mid 50s. Fog could be locally dense in spots, especially where there is still snow on the ground. && .SHORT TERM /6 AM THIS MORNING THROUGH THURSDAY NIGHT/... Flood Watch remains in effect through Thursday morning for Herkimer, Hamilton, and northern Warren Counties... The main story on Wednesday will be even warmer temperatures with daily record high temperatures expected to be set at Climate sites Albany, Poughkeepsie and Glens Falls (see Climate section below for details). There could be good amount of fog and/or low stratus clouds across parts of the region, especially where a snowpack still exists. Based on forecast soundings and potential mixing, we are expecting temperatures to soar into the mid 60s to lower 70s for areas from around I-90 and the Capital District southward. A favorable SW flow in the low-levels along with anomalous warmth at 850 mb +2 to +3 leads to higher confidence in the warmth. The all- time February record high temp of 74 at Albany set just last February, may be challenged. Again, areas in NY north of I-90 will be cooler with a lower confidence forecast in high temps. A cold front will be pushing SE across the area Wednesday afternoon, although timing looks to be late enough to not affect the warming potential across the southeast half of the area. Temperatures will actually start to drop during the early to mid afternoon hours for areas well north and west of Albany. Mainly some light scattered rain showers expected along the cold front due to lack of forcing and dynamics despite the unseasonably high moisture levels. Much colder air will filter into the region Wednesday night in wake of the cold front passage. A fairly sprawling 1040 mb high pressure area will be expanding eastward from the upper Great Lakes and southeast Canada, providing a northerly flow and source of low-level cold air. With the mean upper level ridge remaining along the east coast and a southwest flow aloft persisting, moisture is expected to return by Thursday morning. Isentropic lift on the 290K surface is also forecast to develop on Thursday, especially according to the GFS/CMC. So will increase pops from around the Capital District southward on Thursday to mention likely pops. There still is some model spread in terms of how far north the precip will make it. As for precip types, forecast soundings indicate mainly snow with a rain/snow mix in lower elevations depending on the critical boundary layer. Will start to mention light snow accumulations less than an inch in valley locations, with around an inch in the hither terrain. Will monitor model trends for possible increases in QPF for Thursday. Dry conditions expected Thursday night, as surface ridging dominates with the anticyclone center moving across southern Quebec. Low temps will return to normal for late February, mainly in the teens and 20s. && .LONG TERM /FRIDAY THROUGH TUESDAY/... Active and unsettled pattern expected as upper level west southwest flow with embedded upper impulses bring periods of precipitation through the entire period. Sources of guidance still in the process of zeroing in on the time windows of the best chances for precipitation and potential dry periods. The latest sources of guidance suggest the best chances for dry weather are expected to be Saturday and Saturday night and Sunday night through Monday night. Still, because of uncertainties in timing, maintaining small chances for precipitation Saturday and Saturday night but not including chances Sunday night through Monday night until we get a closer look and see an increase in consensus in guidance for any potential systems that could affect our region. The baroclinic zone and boundary layer zero line will be wavering north with the increase in warm advection ahead of each upper impulse and wavering south with the departure of each upper impulse and cold advection. Temperatures each day will be above freezing but at night the surface freezing line will likely not be lined up with the boundary layer freezing line, resulting in a zone of mixed precipitation including areas of freezing rain. So, clouds and rain increasing through the day Friday with highs in the upper 30s to lower 40s. Cooling Friday night into the 30s but some upper 20s to around freezing in northern areas and some pockets within the eastern Catskills, southern Green Mountains and Berkshires, where there are chances for freezing rain. Highs Saturday with only small chances for rain and maybe some breaks in clouds at times in the 40s but around 40 northern areas. Lows Saturday night in the 30s but 20s northern areas which will be closest to potential forcing near the baroclinic zone resulting in chances for mixed precipitation in northern areas. Highs Sunday, with increasing clouds and coverage of rain, in the 40s. Lows Sunday night, with rain mixing with snow before ending and clouds potentially exiting, in the 30s but 20s northern areas. Highs Monday, with potentially dry weather, in the 40s but near 50 southern areas and upper 30s northern areas. Clouds and small chances for precipitation could return Tuesday with highs in the lower to mid 40s but lower to mid 30s northern areas. && .AVIATION /06Z WEDNESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY/... Warm front has lifted north, however, no flight restrictions has been seen thus far due to high sct-bkn canopy of CI/CS and wind magnitudes. However, the potential remains of winds to decouple as dewpoint depressions narrow that we will place a TEMPO group for IFR conditions overnight. Through the daylight hours, mainly VFR conditions with a gusty southerly or southwesterly winds. Cold front is expected to impact the terminals this afternoon yet shower potential is less than ideal so we will include a VCSH north of KPOU. Winds will shift toward the west-northwest late this afternoon in the wake of the frontal passage. Outlook... Wednesday Night: Moderate Operational Impact. Breezy Chance of SHRA...RA...SN. Thursday: Moderate Operational Impact. Likely RA...SN. Thursday Night: No Operational Impact. NO SIG WX. Friday: High Operational Impact. Likely RA...SN...SLEET. Friday Night: Moderate Operational Impact. Likely RA. Saturday: Moderate Operational Impact. Chance of RA. Saturday Night: Moderate Operational Impact. Chance of RA. Sunday: High Operational Impact. Likely RA. && .HYDROLOGY... Temperatures will continue to be well above normal through Wednesday, with some record high temperatures possible as well. It will be relatively cooler for areas north of the Capital District, although snowmelt will still occur. Not much additional rainfall will occur, with generally one to two tenths of an inch of rainfall across the western/southern Adirondacks. A cold front will pass through late Wednesday, resulting in temperatures cooling back to more seasonable levels by Thursday. The main wild card with regards to runoff will be snowmelt. Will maintain current Flood Watch for Herkimer, Hamilton, and northern Warren counties, although potential for flooding has decreased somewhat compared to previous forecasts based on the latest forecasts from the Northeast River Forecast Center. Also, MMEFS showing no near term flooding expected over the next couple days. Still not enough confidence to drop the Flood Watch though, but will not be expanding the watch area. We will also continue to monitor where current ice jams are in place for possible movement through Wednesday night. Flows may not be great enough to cause significant movement in the absence of rainfall, although there is considerable uncertainty in predicting ice jam movement. We will continue to watch this closely, especially for the larger ice jams around Schenectady and Thurman in Warren County. Additional precipitation, some frozen, is expected Thursday through the upcoming weekend. Rivers levels could rise further depending on eventual QPF. For details on specific area rivers and lakes, including observed and forecast river stages and lake elevations, please visit the Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service /AHPS/ graphs on our website. && .CLIMATE... Record high temperature are forecast for Wednesday. Tue Feb 20th Current record highs: KALB 66F set in 1930 KGFL 58F set in 1981 KPOU 63F set in 2016 Wed Feb 21st Current record highs: KALB 65F set in 1981 KGFL 65F set in 1981 KPOU 67F set in 1953 All-time February highs: KALB 74F set Feb. 24, 2017 KGFL 70F set Feb. 25, 2017 KPOU 73F set Feb. 24, 2017 RECORDS FOR KPOU DATE BACK TO 1949... HOWEVER...DATA IS MISSING FROM JANUARY 1993 - JULY 2000. && .ALY WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... CT...None. NY...Flood Watch through Thursday morning for NYZ032-033-038-042. MA...None. VT...None. && SYNOPSIS...JPV NEAR TERM...NAS/JPV/JVM SHORT TERM...JPV LONG TERM...NAS AVIATION...BGM/NAS HYDROLOGY...JPV CLIMATE...
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Albany NY 927 PM EST Tue Feb 20 2018 CTZ001-013-MAZ025-NYZ058>061-063>066-211200- Northern Litchfield-Southern Litchfield-Southern Berkshire- Western Greene-Eastern Greene-Western Columbia-Eastern Columbia- Western Ulster-Eastern Ulster-Western Dutchess-Eastern Dutchess- 927 PM EST Tue Feb 20 2018 This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for northwestern Connecticut, southern Berkshires, eastern Catskills, mid-Hudson Valley and central and southern Taconics. .DAY ONE...Overnight. The probability of widespread hazardous weather is low. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Wednesday through Monday. A wintry mix of precipitation, including a chance of freezing rain, is possible Friday night into Saturday morning and again Saturday night into Sunday morning especially across the higher terrain. If confidence in freezing rain increases, a Winter Weather Advisory would be issued. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotter activation is not expected at this time. MAZ001-NYZ039>041-043-047>054-082>084-VTZ013>015-211200- Northern Berkshire-Southern Fulton-Montgomery-Northern Saratoga- Northern Washington-Schoharie-Western Schenectady- Eastern Schenectady-Southern Saratoga-Western Albany-Eastern Albany- Western Rensselaer-Eastern Rensselaer-Northern Fulton- Southeast Warren-Southern Washington-Bennington-Western Windham- Eastern Windham- 927 PM EST Tue Feb 20 2018 This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for the northern Berkshires, southern Vermont, Capital District, central and eastern Mohawk Valley, northern Taconics and Schoharie Valley. .DAY ONE...Overnight. The combination of warm temperatures, some rainfall, and snowmelt could lead to river rises in the vicinity of ice jams and ice jam movement today into tonight. If flood potential increases, flood watches, warnings or advisories may be issued. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Wednesday through Monday. The combination of warm temperatures, some rainfall, and snowmelt could lead to river rises in the vicinity of ice jams and ice jam movement Wednesday into Thursday. If flood potential increases, flood watches may be issued. A wintry mix of precipitation, including a chance of freezing rain, is possible Friday night into Saturday morning and again Saturday night into Sunday morning especially across the higher terrain. If confidence in freezing rain increases, a Winter Weather Advisory would be issued. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotter activation is not expected at this time. NYZ032-033-038-042-211200- Northern Herkimer-Hamilton-Southern Herkimer-Northern Warren- 927 PM EST Tue Feb 20 2018 ...FLOOD WATCH IN EFFECT THROUGH THURSDAY MORNING... This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for the southern Adirondacks and western Mohawk Valley. .DAY ONE...Overnight. Please listen to NOAA Weather Radio or go to weather.gov on the Internet for more information about the following hazards. Flood Watch. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Wednesday through Monday. Please listen to NOAA Weather Radio or go to weather.gov on the Internet for more information about the following hazards. Flood Watch. A wintry mix of precipitation, including a chance of freezing rain, is possible Friday night into Saturday morning and again Saturday night into Sunday morning especially across the higher terrain. If confidence in freezing rain increases, a Winter Weather Advisory would be issued. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotters are requested to report any flooding to the National Weather Service.
Special Weather Statement National Weather Service Albany NY 337 AM EST Wed Feb 21 2018 VTZ015-211300- Eastern Windham- Including the cities of Brattleboro, Guilford Center, West Brattleboro, and Bellows Falls 337 AM EST Wed Feb 21 2018 ...Patchy Dense Fog through this morning... Patchy dense fog will continue across eastern Windham County, especially near the Connecticut River. Visibilities will drop to near or below one quarter of a mile at times. Motorists should be prepared to encounter areas of greatly reduced visibilities, allow for increased distance between vehicles and use low beam headlights when encountering the areas of dense fog.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
5 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Water backed up into the Jumpin Jacks parking lot due to an ice jam located at Freemans Bridge.
Flooding occurred in the Stockade neighborhood of Schenectady from an ice jam.
There was backwater flooding along Alplaus Kill from the Mohawk River Ice Jam. Location was estimated.
All lanes of Route 5S E/W from NY-890 ramps to Mabie Lane were closed due to flooding from an ice jam.
Emergency management reported flooding of River Road in the vicinity of Snack Rock on the Hudson River.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in New York in 2018Every state in 2018This day in weather historyWarnings in New York, February 2018
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 741565, 741569, 741863, 741572, 741864.