Derwent West Cumbria and Duddon catchment
• Cockermouth • Cumberland • ID: 751613 • Level
(29m ago) • 2 readings/hr • 123 views
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You'll be notified when this gauge is rising more than 0.10 m/hr — a sign of rapidly increasing water levels.
Beta. You'll be notified when a flood wave detected at an upstream gauge is forecast to reach this station, with an estimated arrival time. Accuracy improves as we verify more waves.
You'll be notified when a new storm-overflow (sewage) discharge starts within ~3 km of this gauge, based on the water companies' near-real-time feeds.
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Current Level
0.371 m
▬ Steady
24h Max
0.384 m
24h Min
0.371 m
Typical Range
0.35 - 1.25
m
Highest Recorded
3.12 m
19 Nov 2009
Since Mar 1976
Current level is 12% of this
🚽Sewage overflows nearby
Recent Water Levels
🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day
Prediction V2
Prediction Eris
Nimbus beta
Experimental model fusing soil moisture, river flow, groundwater and catchment
character. Shown with its calibrated 10–90% confidence band. Under evaluation —
not yet promoted, so treat as a second opinion.
River Flow
90 days
Daily mean discharge (m³/s) with the daily min–max band, from the EA Hydrology API. Flow is the volume of water passing the gauge — often a more direct flood signal than level.
Long Term
🌍 floodradar.co.uk
—
Consecutive rainy days0 → 10+
Days Above Normal
This year vs 5-year monthly range
Recent Readings
Falling · -0.4 cm over 6h
23 Aug 23:00▬ steady0.371 m
23 Aug 22:45▼ -0.1 cm0.371 m
23 Aug 21:30▬ steady0.372 m
23 Aug 21:15▬ steady0.372 m
23 Aug 21:00▬ steady0.372 m
23 Aug 20:45▬ steady0.372 m
23 Aug 20:30▬ steady0.372 m
23 Aug 20:15▬ steady0.372 m
23 Aug 20:00▬ steady0.372 m
23 Aug 19:45▬ steady0.372 m
23 Aug 19:30▬ steady0.372 m
23 Aug 19:15▬ steady0.372 m
23 Aug 19:00▼ -0.1 cm0.372 m
23 Aug 18:45▬ steady0.373 m
23 Aug 18:30▼ -0.1 cm0.373 m
23 Aug 18:15▬ steady0.374 m
23 Aug 18:00▬ steady0.374 m
23 Aug 17:45▬ steady0.374 m
23 Aug 17:30▼ -0.1 cm0.374 m
23 Aug 17:150.375 m
Rainfall & Weather
Loading rainfall and weather data...
Flood history near this gauge
Official Environment Agency warnings issued since 2006 for the 9 flood
areas linked to this gauge (nearest 0.2 km away).
Warnings apply to a whole flood area, not necessarily this exact spot. Years before 2006 aren't covered by the EA's historic record.
See also the Cockermouth flood history.
Geographic coordinates may reflect the access point for the gauge, and not the precise location in the watercourse that it is taking readings from.
Catchment Character
🌊 Steep & flashySteep catchment sheds rain quickly — expect fast, sharp rises after heavy rain.
Your catchment is all the land that drains rainfall into the river above this gauge. Its character — how
steep, wet, wooded, urban or chalky that land is — decides how fast rain here turns into a rising river. A steep, bare or clay
catchment is “flashy” (rises and falls quickly, floods easily); a flat, chalk or well-wooded one is
slow and steady. The tiles below put numbers to that; the flow-duration curve reads left-to-right
from the river’s typical high flows (Q5) down to its low flows (Q95) — a steep curve means a flashy river.
The physical character of the land that drains to this gauge, and how it shapes its flood response — from the National River Flow Archive (UKCEH).
Baseflow Index
0.48
mixed response
Avg Annual Rainfall
2,093 mm/yr
1991–2020 · -3% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
0.0%
largely rural
Median Annual Flood
53.33 m³/s
QMED — typical yearly peak flow
Highest Recorded Flow
166 m³/s
19 Nov 2009
Flow-Duration Curve
Daily flow (m³/s) exceeded each % of the time — a steep curve is flashy, a flat one is steady. Q5 high · Q50 median · Q95 low.
Velocity area station gauging a catchment draining the Cumbrian mountains with some reservoirs.
More detail
The catchment
Catchment drains roughly northwards from the Cumbrian mountains, with geology comprising Lower Palaeozoic rocks and granite intrusions, under moorland. Headwaters are deeply incised, while lower river flows in broad glacial trough. Land use is mainly grazing, with some arable on a broad swathe of drift in the river valley. No known catchment changes.
The station
Velocity area station, channel is approximately 17m wide. Station is often used in conjunction with Scalehill (75016).
How it measures flow
Control is a pipeline downstream, and mill weir 137m downstream at higher flows. Station has permanent cableway and flood banks containing most flows; bypassing from upstream on right bank at high flows. Suffers from silt, weed growth and minor bed movements, hence many rating changes. Low and medium flows of limited accuracy. Multiple peak flow ratings applied across period of record. Rated by current meter, with model results for higher stages.
Flow regime
Catchment contains Crummock Water, Buttermere and Loweswater; catchment is sometimes responsive in spite of these. Low flow compensation pumped from Crummock Water. Occasional evidence of low flow regulation (e.g. July 1988).
The flow record
WY1966/1967 rejected due to substanital under-estimation of the true AMAX. October 2008 flood appears to have resulted in subsequent underestimation of low flows and overestimation of high flows: data subject to revision. Full period of record peak flow data reviewed and released in September 2022 (WINFAP Files v11).
How this gauging station is built and how long it has measured (NRFA / UKCEH).
Gauge type
Velocity–area
Operating since
1967
Station datum
59.5 mAOD
Flow record
1967–2024 · 57 yrs · 100% complete
Peak-flow record
since 1967
Hydrometric area
75
Measured by
Environment Agency
Nearby Groundwater
Soil Moisture
Possible storm-overflow correlation
🚽 Storm overflows on this river
Frequently asked questions
Is the River Cocker at Southwaite Bridge flooding today?
The current level is 0.37m, which is within the typical range of 0.35 to 1.25m. Flooding is unlikely at this level.
Is the river level rising or falling at Southwaite Bridge?
Based on the most recent readings, the level is currently steady. The chart above shows the last 7 days of measurements, updated roughly every 15 minutes.
What is a normal level for the River Cocker at Southwaite Bridge?
The typical range at this station is 0.35m to 1.25m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 1.25m are higher than usually seen and may indicate a flood risk.
How often is this river level data updated?
Readings are taken by the Environment Agency gauge roughly every 15 minutes and FloodRadar refreshes its data continuously, so the level shown is normally less than an hour old.
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📮 Flood risk by postcode near this gauge
Postcodes within 5 km with properties in the Environment Agency’s rivers-and-sea flood-risk bands:
