Waters rise, ice dam holds

The Kenai River and its upper tributaries will continue rising through the weekend. When it will peak remains uncertain.

But an ice-dammed lake near Seward remains in place and is unlikely to add to the flow. And cloud cover may bring a respite.

If current trends continue, the Kenai River will reach flood levels around Kenai Keys today and in low areas of Soldotna next week.

"It will still rise until we have several days of cloudy, cooler weather," hydrologist Ben Balk of the Alaska River Forecast Center said Friday.

"If we continue to see this warm sunny weather, we will continue to see this slow rise."

But a sudden pulse of additional water from the glacial lake is unlikely.

Thursday evening Balk and other officials from the center flew over the Kenai Mountains and inspected an intermittent lake in the headwaters of the Snow River north of Seward. The lake empties into the river system on average every third year. Some rumors attribute the high waters to the lake dumping, but that is not the case.

"We do expect it to release sometime this summer, but not until later," Balk said.

For more information on river levels, Internet users can access real-time gauge information at: http://ak.water.usgs.gov/rt-cgi/gen_tbl_pg