A flood resulting from heavy rain or a spring thaw. Whereas heavy rain often causes a flash flood, a spring thaw event is generally a more incremental process, depending upon local climate and topography. The term freshet is most commonly used to describe a spring thaw resulting from snow and ice melt in rivers located in the northern latitudes of North America, particularly Canada, where rivers are frozen each winter and thaw during the spring. A spring freshet can sometimes last several weeks on large river systems, resulting in significant inundation of flood plains as the snow pack melts in the river's watershed. Spring freshets associated with thaw events are sometimes accompanied by ice jams which can cause flash floods
The annual spring rise of streams in cold climates as a result of snow melt; freshet also refers to a flood caused by rain or melting snow
A sudden, rapid increase in water levels in a stream, caused by heavy rains and/or melting snow Freshets are usually associated with spring-time conditions, although it in coastal areas, they may also occur in the fall