An ice dam (or ice jam) occurs when water builds up behind a blockage of ice. Ice dams can occur in various ways which include a glacier blocking an unfrozen river and a thawing river being blocked by a still-frozen section further on. On a small scale the term can be used for ice blockages of gutters and spouts on buildings.
Read more about Ice Dam: Caused By A Glacier, On Rivers, On Roofs of Buildings
Famous quotes containing the words ice and/or dam:
“...there was the annual Fourth of July picketing at Independence Hall in Philadelphia. ...I thought it was ridiculous to have to go there in a skirt. But I did it anyway because it was something that might possibly have an effect. I remember walking around in my little white blouse and skirt and tourists standing there eating their ice cream cones and watching us like the zoo had opened.”
—Martha Shelley, U.S. author and social activist. As quoted in Making History, part 3, by Eric Marcus (1992)
“The devil take one party and his dam the other!”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)