PERTH-ANDOVER, New Brunswick — Officials on the Maine-New Brunswick border are keeping an eye on the St. John River in the wake of recent 5- and 6-foot increases in the water level of the river. The rising water is a result of unusual fall and winter weather patterns.

On Dec. 27, the community of Perth-Andover, which borders Fort Fairfield, Maine, experienced a high ice jam on its riverbanks, near the Perth-Andover bridge, according to Murray Watters, town manager. Watters said New Brunswick Power Co. officials reported a similar occurrence in 1958, “which apparently did not cause problems the following spring.”

Officials monitoring the recent rising waters reported a decrease in the ice jam, which apparently has frozen solid, and hope that there will be no problems by spring runoff. “Our immediate concern is over with, unless a big thaw occurs,” said Watters.

Jerry Lockhart, director of the St. John River Forecast Center in Fredericton, New Brunswick, said no flooding had occurred, but officials were monitoring small ice jams and runs on area rivers very carefully.

Lockhart said his center monitors year-round conditions and weather daily, with flood monitoring beginning in the middle of March and lasting until the end of May, or until the flooding season is over.

Officials from Fredericton said that recent cold temperatures had minimized ice activity on area rivers. A few ice runs and small jams had been reported in the Pristly area above Allagash. Temperatures in the Central Aroostook area Jan. 8 were reported at 20 degrees below zero. The record low for that date — 23 degrees below — was set in 1942.

The degree of spring flooding will depend largely on the amount of precipitation that falls this winter and on early spring temperatures.