River Ice Spotters Wanted -- Rock River Basin
The National Weather Service (NWS) in Chicago/Romeoville, IL is looking for individuals that live or work along the Rock, Pecatonica, or Kishwaukee rivers to become part of our river ice spotter network. The river ice spotter network was created last year and was a great success. It consisted of ice spotters living primarily along the Kankakee River that provided valuable data on ice cover and ice jam flooding to our office. We would like to thank those new ice spotters that have joined our network this season and would like to expand to include additional ice spotters within the Rock River basin in north central Illinois.
Ice jams can result in rapid and devastating flooding. Although the NWS does monitor automated river gages, they typically do not accurately reflect the current conditions upstream and downstream due to the isolated nature of ice jams. It is also important to know the extent of the current ice cover and other conditions. That kind of information can only be obtained from visual observations. Under no circumstances are river ice spotters to actually go out on the ice! Your safety is important to us. Observations should be made from a safe location only.
River ice spotters will receive basic training that will cover ice formation and ice reporting procedures.
If you are interested please contact Bill Morris, Hydrologist at the National Weather Service Chicago/Romeoville office. Please include your name, address, phone number, and email.
Thank you!
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