Ice jams

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• Ice jam

ice jam

1. An accumulation of broken river ice caught in a narrow channel.

   
   

   Ice jams during freeze-up are quite porous, whereas breakup jams may comprise solid flows, frequently producing local floods during a spring breakup.

   
   
2. Fields of lake or sea ice thawed loose from the shores in early spring and blown against the shore, sometimes exerting great pressures.