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Flooding isn’t only a summer event—ice jams and snowmelts can overflow rivers and cause flash flooding even when the temperatures are frigid outside.

When the majority of water caused by a flood comes from snowmelt, it is considered snowmelt flooding. When rain falls, it can reach the soil immediately, allowing some of the water to be absorbed before all the rain reaches the surface. With snowfall, the moisture is kept from the soil for days, weeks or even months. When there’s more snowfall than can be absorbed by the ground, rivers, lakes and reservoirs, flooding can occur.

The deeper the snow, the worse the risk. Additionally, if late-fall rains occur right before a freeze, the soil itself may become frozen while heavily saturated. This would reduce the ability of the soil to absorb any snowmelt that may occur. If rain falls on existing snowpack, that could accelerate snowmelt and further increase snowmelt flooding.

Usually, snowmelt flooding is a slow event, comparable to light or moderate rainfall. However, during unusually warm periods with high dewpoint temperatures and nighttime lows above freezing, snowmelt rates can be much higher and cause serious flooding.

Snowmelt flooding can apply pressure on existing river ice, breaking it up. This ice, being forced downstream by excess water from melted snow, can get locked up and lead to what is known as an ice jam.

During the winter and spring, ice jams are common along river, streams and creeks in Alaska and higher latitudes of the continental U.S. When ice moves downstream, it can collide with existing obstructions and dam the flow of water. When the water is released, it can shoot downstream and cause flash flooding.

Ice jams can impact the economy and the environment as well. They can delay travel and shipping via water, impact hydroelectric plants and damage vessels. These jams can also block the migration of some aquatic animals and destroy wildlife habitats, as well as harming or fatally injuring wildlife and humans alike.

Source: National Weather Service
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Flooding Can Happen in the Winter Too!