Freshet on Ouareau River in Rawdon, Quebec, CanadaAn example of usage of the term "freshet" is shown in the text on a historic marker at Durgin Bridge near Sandwich, New Hampshire.
The term freshet is most commonly used to describe a snowmelt, an annual high water event on rivers resulting from snow and river ice melting. A spring freshet can sometimes last several weeks on large river systems, resulting in significant inundation of flood plains as the snowpack melts in the river's watershed. Freshets can occur with differing strength and duration depending upon the depth of the snowpack and the local average rates of warming temperatures. Deeper snowpacks which melt quickly can result in more severe flooding. Late spring melts allow for faster flooding; this is because the relatively longer days and higher solar angle allow for average melting temperatures to be reached quickly, causing snow to melt rapidly. Snowpacks at higher altitudes and in mountainous areas remain cold and tend to melt over a longer period of time and thus do not contribute to major flooding.[1] Serious flooding from freshets in southern US states are more often related to rain storms of large tropical weather systems rolling in from the South Atlantic or Gulf of Mexico, to add their powerful heating capacity to lesser snow packs. Tropically induced rainfall influenced quick melts can also affect snow cover to latitudes as far north as southern Canada, so long as the generally colder air mass is not blocking northward movement of low pressure systems.
In the eastern part of the continent, annual freshets occur from the Canadian Taiga ranging along both sides of the Great Lakes then down through the heavily forested Appalachian mountain chain and St. Lawrence valley from Northern Maine and New Brunswick into barrier ranges in North Carolina and Tennessee.
In the western part of the continent, freshets occur throughout the generally much higher elevations of the various west coast mountain ranges that extend southward down from Alaska even into the northern parts of Arizona and New Mexico.
The term can also refer to the following:
A flood resulting from heavy rain or a spring thaw.[2] Whereas heavy rain often causes a flash flood, a spring thaw event is generally a more incremental process, depending upon local climate and topography.
A stream, river or flood of fresh water which empties into the ocean, usually flowing through an estuary.[3]
A small stream of fresh water, irrespective of its outflow.[3][4]
A pool of fresh water, according to Samuel Johnson[5] and followed in Thomas Sheridan's dictionary, but this might have been a misinterpretation on Johnson's part, and it is at best not a common usage.[6][7]
A controlled release of extra water into a river from a dam or other impounding structure, in additional to normal compensation flows, intended to simulate high flow events which would normally occur naturally if the river was not impounded. They are designed to aid fish migration.[8]
^"What is Snowmelt?". Alberta WaterPortal Society. Retrieved February 8, 2019.
^Gieck, Jack (1988). A Photo Album of Ohio's Canal Era, 1825–1913. Kent State University Press. pp. xvii. ISBN 9780873383530.
^ abBrown, Lesley (1993). The New shorter Oxford English dictionary on historical principles. Oxford [Eng.]: Clarendon. ISBN 0-19-861271-0.
^Bonnier Corporation (January–June 1907). "Popular Science". The Popular Science Monthly. Bonnier Corporation: 68–. ISSN 0161-7370.
^Samuel Johnson (1773). A Dictionnary of the English Language. pp. 196–.
^Thomas Sheridan (1789). A Complete Dictionary of the English Language, Both with Regard to Sound and Meaning ...: To which is Prefixed a Prosodial Grammar. C. Dilly. pp. 286–.
^Timothy Dwight (1822). New-England and New-York. pp. 286–.
^Baker, N G; et al. (29 January 2020). "The Response of River-resident Fish to Reservoir Freshet Releases of Varying Profiles Intended to Facilitate a Spawning Migration". Water Resources Research. 56 (6). Hull International Fisheries Institute, University of Hull. Bibcode:2020WRR....5624196B. doi:10.1029/2018WR024196. S2CID 213488911.
The term freshet is most commonly used to describe a snowmelt, an annual high water event on rivers resulting from snow and river ice melting. A spring...
to the upper river, the section stretching from Yichang to Chongqing. Freshets from Himalayan snowmelt created treacherous seasonal currents. But summer...
white-water sports. On salmonid rivers special releases (in Britain called freshets) are made to encourage natural migration behaviours in fish and to provide...
channel year-round, and are capable of halting most of the river's annual freshets. However, high and low water cycles of the Missouri – notably the protracted...
the family Dolichopodidae. This species typically inhabits mud flats and freshet seeps in east-central Washington. Adults are active from late April to...
advantage is achieved F38.03.009 1935 4.144 7.126 799 854 Dew — is the Freshet in the Grass S06c.05.015 1914 2.044 5.044 1097 1102 Did life's penurious...
(restricted by icing) of temperate latitude canals which suffered ice and freshet flooding damages with dreary regularity. When floods did affect railways...
the Canal & River Trust, who are the navigation authority. During spring freshet the river can be closed to navigation. At Upper Parting above Gloucester...
region-wide floods in 1894 and 1948, both associated with an extreme spring freshet of the Fraser River. Other major floods in the Lower Mainland – including...
Mohicans and Mohawks in 1617, and with Fort Nassau badly damaged by a freshet, the Dutch abandoned the fort. In 1618, having once again negotiated a...
Russia, specifically in the Ural Mountains and Siberia. Snow melt caused freshets resulting in the Orsk Dam collapsing. In Russia, a federal emergency was...
against the prevailing current when the tide is high, although in the spring freshet, this is frequently surpassed by the downstream volume of water. The rapids...
enquiry into Robert Graves's version of some Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Freshet library, no. 2. Abbey Press (Berks). ISBN 9780900012327 – via Hathi Trust...
Polynesian style. The Centennial Bridge was washed away during the spring freshet of 1888. It was replaced by a more austere bridge that same year. William...
Fraser River, much of this river's delta was subject to flooding and summer freshet which prevented the captain from spotting any of its great channels as...
border at Kapitan Andreevo, is also named in honour of the river. Spring freshet of Maritsa River at Harmanli View from the river, Edirne. The river viewed...
Floods in the United States before 1900 is a list of flood events that were of significant impact to the country, before 1900. Floods are generally caused...
deep. The falls are from 3 to 12 and 15 feet high." During the spring freshet in June and July, the falls could be completely submerged. The falls were...
Great Depression, the plans were never realized In April 1929 after some freshet damage, the railroad repaired a break in the towpath, so that they could...
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