What a difference a few days made. Last week, the Allegheny River and Oil Creek in Oil City were packed with ice. This week only remnants of the icy chunks remained on the river and creek banks. The river was clear of everything except fog on Wednesday.
Last Thursday, Dec. 29, 2022, the ice pack could be seen clogging up the river from the Wye Railroad bridge to at least a half-mile past the Oil City Marina.
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An inquiry to the National Weather Service office in Pittsburgh last Thursday prompted a cautious response about the dangers of a possible ice jam.
"We're watching carefully, but (it) should be warm enough tonight through tomorrow night to continue melting a good bit of the ice," the office said. It also said that rainfall forecasted for last Saturday shouldn't have been enough to cause significant issues.
The office's statement which was issued last week was right on the money.
"We're watching carefully, but (it) should be warm enough tonight through tomorrow night to continue melting a good bit of the ice," the office said. It also said that rainfall forecasted for last Saturday shouldn't have been enough to cause significant issues.
The office's statement which was issued last week was right on the money.
This week the river was cleared of most of the ice. However, some fog lingered, and recent rains helped river levels rise. A chart on the National Weather service's site, provided some information. On Jan. 2, the Allegheny River at Franklin was at 6.55 feet. The level jumped to 8.62 feet by Jan. 4 and had risen slightly to 9.25 feet on Jan. 5.
Reports from the Kinzua Dam on Jan. 4, said the Allegheny River temperature was at 36 degrees which was at least 15 degrees cooler than the air temperature that day. By Thursday, Jan. 5, the river had cooled a bit to 35.8 degrees. The Tionesta Lake reported on Jan. 4 that its stream temperature was 33.4 degrees, and that the lake temperature was frozen. Tionesta Lake officials also reported on Jan. 4 that "we are starting to discharge a higher volume of water to compensate for the rising lake levels." The lake's stream temperature climbed to 37 degrees on Thursday. Meanwhile, the National Weather Service office in Pittsburgh is looking for some help reporting river ice conditions. In a Facebook post, they reported that at 4 p.m. Jan. 11, they would host a training seminar on Facebook Live on how to report river ice throughout the winter season.
While the ice exited this year without incident, folks more than 96 years ago were not so lucky. My grandmother had kept some photos that were found in the backseat of a used car they had purchased. The photos stamped with the name Jerry M. Lynch were of the 1926 March flooding in Oil City.
A post on the website greenerpasture.com listed a several news bulletins. One with the dateline Oil City, Pa., on March 21, 1926, said "Flood waters are rapidly rising here. A flood stage of twenty-five feet and six inches of was reached by the Allegheny River late tonight and the water is still rising."
The post continued with another bulletin also on March 21, 1926. It said that the ice had covered the river since Feb. 26, 1926, had started to move. The ice piled up at "the eastern end of the city, with the result that the lower parts of Oil City, along the river were flooded," the bulletin continued.
While the old photos provided some visual insight into the catastrophe, it was hard to imagine just how much ice there was. One photo was labeled as a picture of the ice above the railroad bridge in Siverly taken on March 14, 1926. After enlarging the picture some, I surmised that the black figures on the ice were humans, albeit not smart ones.
An article published March 24, 1926, in The News-Herald estimated the flood loss in Oil City to be around half a million dollars. Companies that sustained substantial damages included the National Transit Pump and Machine Co., Joseph Reid Gas Engine Co. and the Kramer Wagon works. Oil City wasn't alone in flooding woes. The ice also took out the Big Rock Bridge at Franklin on March 21.
While much has been done over the years to prevent the flooding, Mother Nature is still very unpredictable and sometimes dangerous. That's just the nature of things 'round here.
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