Haywire Gauge?

[A Savage spanke]

Middle Fork of the White is listed at 17.19 and going straight up
http://www.ozarkpages.com/cgi-bin/stages.pl?ST=level" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I'm sure this is a let down, and not a "Merry Christmas!".

[Cowper]

National Weather Service says it is in the teens up there.

I'm no expert on the gages, but one common type works by blowing air into a tube. As water rises around the tube, it takes more air pressure to blow the air out the bottom. The gage interprets rising air pressure as meaning the water level is rising.

If the water around the end of that tube managed to freeze up, then the air might have trouble escaping, and the gage would see an increasing air pressure and call it rising water level. That would explain why it just keeps going up and up.

[Half Ton]

if the pressure transducer that measures the pressure, like cowper said, is exposed to air and is not submerged or is slightly submerged but still susceptible to freezing the guage will freak out.

The ice pushes against the little pressure membrane and causes a pressure change sometimes.