Ice Jam Delaware river

[NJ_Ken]

They make it sound like the Delaware hasn't been completely frozen over since Washington's Crossing. 

 

 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Crossing_the_Delaware

 

By all accounts, the Delaware froze very regularly in the winter during colonial and revolutionary times (i.e. during the tail end of the "little ice age".  In fact, one of the (many) reasons for Washington making the fairly desperate decision to attack Trenton on Xmas Day 1776 was supposedly the fact that he expected that the Delaware would freeze solid by early January, and thus cease being a military barrier.  Once the British could cross the Delaware over the ice wherever and whenever they wanted (and WITH their horses and heavy equipment), it would only be a matter of time before they crossed, took Philadelphia, destroyed what was left of the Continental army and end the rebellion barely a year before it began.  The attacks on Trenton and Princeton (followed by the march to Morristown, NJ) served to drive the British back from the Delaware and forced them to retreat all the way back to New York City where they went into winter quarters, saving both Philadelphia and, more importantly, the Continental army to fight on.  

[NJ_Ken]

I remember that winter also  . Did a lot of ice skating on ponds that year and the following winter too. I had the thought at one point a few years back, if it got cold enough for long enough, of flooding a part of the back yard and making a skating area. This cold spell we are now into would be a good candidate for that. Don't know if I'll do it though...hmmm...

 

If I remember right, our "skating rink" used to get pretty ragged after a few days with a bunch of kids skating on it for hours on end (and no zamboni machine to resurface it. lol.) so one of our neighbors would turn his hose on it overnight.  It would add just enough water on top (which froze almost immediately) to give us a nice surface again.  Point being, creating your own skating pond in the backyard might just be workable.  You might want to watch your hose though.  If memory serves, my neighbor went through several garden hoses that winter after they froze solid overnight and split. 

 

To bring this back around to the actual topic of the thread, the Delaware River most definitely froze solid for three straight years during the late 70s (76-77, 77-78, and 78-79).  Heck, even Barnegat Bay was frozen solid enough in March of 78 for me to ice skate on it (it might have been March of 77, but '78 seems more likely since we had a decent thaw in February of 77). 

[Sophisticated Skeptic]

By all accounts, the Delaware froze very regularly in the winter during colonial and revolutionary times (i.e. during the tail end of the "little ice age".  In fact, one of the (many) reasons for Washington making the fairly desperate decision to attack Trenton on Xmas Day 1776 was supposedly the fact that he expected that the Delaware would freeze solid by early January, and thus cease being a military barrier.  Once the British could cross the Delaware over the ice wherever and whenever they wanted (and WITH their horses and heavy equipment), it would only be a matter of time before they crossed, took Philadelphia, destroyed what was left of the Continental army and end the rebellion barely a year before it began.  The attacks on Trenton and Princeton (followed by the march to Morristown, NJ) served to drive the British back from the Delaware and forced them to retreat all the way back to New York City where they went into winter quarters, saving both Philadelphia and, more importantly, the Continental army to fight on.  

 

Interesting history..

 

 

To bring this back around to the actual topic of the thread, the Delaware River most definitely froze solid for three straight years during the late 70s (76-77, 77-78, and 78-79).  Heck, even Barnegat Bay was frozen solid enough in March of 78 for me to ice skate on it (it might have been March of 77, but '78 seems more likely since we had a decent thaw in February of 77).

 

But I don't think any of that is official.   Mount Holly should keep a historic record of these somewhere. (if they don't already)   Or increase their budget to put live webcams up and down the Delaware.  

 

Some news outlet could get a lot of hits now by putting out a headline such as "Delaware River set to completely freeze over..First time since colonial era"

[KamuSnow]

If I remember right, our "skating rink" used to get pretty ragged after a few days with a bunch of kids skating on it for hours on end (and no zamboni machine to resurface it. lol.) so one of our neighbors would turn his hose on it overnight.  It would add just enough water on top (which froze almost immediately) to give us a nice surface again.  Point being, creating your own skating pond in the backyard might just be workable.  You might want to watch your hose though.  If memory serves, my neighbor went through several garden hoses that winter after they froze solid overnight and split. 

 

To bring this back around to the actual topic of the thread, the Delaware River most definitely froze solid for three straight years during the late 70s (76-77, 77-78, and 78-79).  Heck, even Barnegat Bay was frozen solid enough in March of 78 for me to ice skate on it (it might have been March of 77, but '78 seems more likely since we had a decent thaw in February of 77). 

 

If I recall correctly, during that cold winter of 1976-77, the ice on the Delaware down by the airport was about 2 feet thick in early February.

[KamuSnow]

We're getting a lot of mileage out of this ice jam thread aren't we?

[KamuSnow]

Some news outlet could get a lot of hits now by putting out a headline such as "Delaware River set to completely freeze over..First time since colonial era"

 

Hey, 1970's wasn't that long ago!

[eastonwx]

This AM about 6 mi. N of Easton PA

[NJ_Ken]

 

But I don't think any of that is official.   Mount Holly should keep a historic record of these somewhere. (if they don't already)   Or increase their budget to put live webcams up and down the Delaware.  

 

Some news outlet could get a lot of hits now by putting out a headline such as "Delaware River set to completely freeze over..First time since colonial era"

 

Agreed. 

 

I know that states like Maine and Minnesota that have lots of lakes and cold winters DO keep track of when their lakes and ponds freeze and when the ice breaks up in the spring.  I am pretty sure it is state-based or perhaps even private entities that do it.  Presumably, this is done at least in part for recreational purposes (i.e. for ice fishing in winter and regular fishing when the ice breaks up in spring) and since presumably, nobody wants to encourage people to venture out onto the Delaware no matter how thick the ice gets, maybe NWS/NOAA and/or the states are purposely avoiding tracking that data.  I know in the pre-internet era the "Delaware has frozen solid" always made for a good public interest story in the local newspapers and/or TV news so there is certainly some anecdotal data out there for somebody who really has the time and energy and interest to perform some detective work.  However, I suspect that even that kind of anecdotal evidence would get more and more difficult to parse beyond say 60 or 70 years ago.  Pre-World War II newspapers, news reporting, and news editing were very different animals than what we are used to today, and it is shocking just how difficult it can be to understand what the heck a reporter was really saying behind the flowery writing and unchecked sources.      

[Sophisticated Skeptic]

making a new thread on it...since this one's kinda outdated.