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0.12

Highfield

Sheaf
Don and Rother catchment • Sheffield • South Yorkshire • ID: F0402 • Level
(35m ago) • 3 readings/hr • 121 views

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Not an emergency service — if in danger call 999. Alerts rely on EA/SEPA data and are best-efforts. Terms

Current Level
0.120 m
▬ Steady
24h Max
0.122 m
24h Min
0.120 m
Typical Range
0.12 - 1.10
m
Highest Recorded
3.26 m
21 Dec 1991
Since Jan 1981
Current level is 4% of this
🚽 Sewage overflows nearby

Recent Water Levels

🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day

Recent Readings

Steady over 6h
23 Aug 23:15 ▬ steady 0.120 m
23 Aug 23:00 ▬ steady 0.120 m
23 Aug 22:45 ▬ steady 0.120 m
23 Aug 21:30 ▬ steady 0.120 m
23 Aug 21:15 ▬ steady 0.120 m
23 Aug 21:00 ▬ steady 0.120 m
23 Aug 20:45 ▬ steady 0.120 m
23 Aug 20:30 ▬ steady 0.120 m
23 Aug 20:15 ▬ steady 0.120 m
23 Aug 20:00 ▬ steady 0.120 m
23 Aug 19:45 ▬ steady 0.120 m
23 Aug 19:30 ▬ steady 0.120 m
23 Aug 19:15 ▬ steady 0.120 m
23 Aug 19:00 ▬ steady 0.120 m
23 Aug 18:45 ▬ steady 0.120 m
23 Aug 18:30 ▬ steady 0.120 m
23 Aug 18:15 ▬ steady 0.120 m
23 Aug 18:00 ▬ steady 0.120 m
23 Aug 17:45 ▬ steady 0.120 m
23 Aug 17:30 0.120 m

Rainfall & Weather

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Flood history near this gauge

Official Environment Agency warnings issued since 2011 for the 30 flood areas linked to this gauge (nearest 0.1 km away).

26flood warnings 61flood alerts

Most recent flood warning: 20 Oct 2023Meers Brook at Heeley

Year by year
YearWarningsAlerts
2026 0 1
2025 0 2
2024 0 8
2023 13 4
2022 3 3
2021 0 1
2020 1 3
2019 5 9
2018 0 1
2017 0 5
2016 4 5
2015 0 2
2014 0 1
2013 0 3
2012 0 12
2011 0 1

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 Sheffield flood history.

Nearby Stations

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Station Details

  • Monitoring Station: Highfield
  • Watercourse: River Sheaf
  • Nearest Town: Sheffield
  • County: South Yorkshire
  • Nearest reservoir: Rivelin Lower Ire (8.0 km) · 87.3% full (as of 10 Aug 2026)
  • Coordinates: 53°22'24"N 1°27'51"W (53.373245, -1.464120)
  • Open in: Google Maps · Apple Maps (opens your maps app)
  • Date Opened: 8 Jan 1981
  • Status: Active
  • Station Type: River level station
  • Station Reference: F0402
  • EA Gauge ID: F0402-level-stage-i-15_min-m
  • Parameter: Level
  • Unit: m
  • Typical rise rate: 3 cm/hr (p95 sustained over 90 days)
  • Typical data delay: ~22 min (measured reading→publication lag)
  • Tidal: No
  • Lock / structure: No
  • Catchment Area: Don and Rother
  • Typical Range: 0.120 – 1.100 m
  • Drainage Area: 49 km² upstream of this gauge
  • EA Cross-check: 0.12 m (EA at 23 Aug 23:15)
  • Flow Archive: National River Flow Archive ↗

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

🌊 Urban & flashy Heavily built-up — rain runs off hard surfaces fast, so levels can spike within hours of 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
0.40
mixed response
Avg Annual Rainfall
893 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +4% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
26%
heavily urbanised
Highest Recorded Flow
29.59 m³/s
21 Dec 1991
Flow-Duration Curve
mean 0.5881.940.3180.0825% (high)% of days exceeded95% (low)
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.
Land Cover (2023)
Woodland 14%Grassland 33%Arable 2%Heath/scrub 10%Urban 41%
Woodland 18% → 14% since 1990

Photos

Gauging-station photographs from the National River Flow Archive (UKCEH).

Photos © NRFA / UKCEH & the measuring authority — shown at web resolution. Full gallery on the NRFA ↗

About this gauge

Flat-V weir in a steep catchment with substantial urban development.

More detail

The catchment

Steep catchment developed on Carboniferous formations: Millstone Grit and Coal Measures. Very substantial urban development (Sheffield) below Pennine headwaters.

The station

Flat-V weir, 1:10 cross-slope, for low flow measurement. Ultrasonic installed in 2000 for high flow measurement, but performance up to 2007 was poor. Ongoing investigations (2016-) into gauge level sensor.

How it measures flow

Structure drowns before QMED as a result of backing-up from the Sheaf Screen at the culvert entrance 100m downstream. There are concerns about the gauge level sensor performance 2016-present.

Flow regime

No reservoirs in catchment.

The flow record

Small drop in flows in May 2017 caused by clearing of screens downstream from the station.

Descriptions from the National River Flow Archive (UKCEH). NRFA station record ↗

Gauge Details

How this gauging station is built and how long it has measured (NRFA / UKCEH).

Gauge type
Gauging structure
Operating since
1984
Station datum
54.1 mAOD
Flow record
1981–2024 · 43 yrs · 100% complete
Hydrometric area
27
Measured by
Environment Agency

Frequently asked questions

Is the River Sheaf at Highfield flooding today?

The current level is 0.12m, which is within the typical range of 0.12 to 1.10m. Flooding is unlikely at this level.

Is the river level rising or falling at Highfield?

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 Sheaf at Highfield?

The typical range at this station is 0.12m to 1.10m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 1.10m 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:

Check any UK postcode’s flood risk →

🏠 Buying or renting around here? Get the Property Flood-Risk Report for any English postcode — official risk band, floods since 1946, warning history, river behaviour and nearby storm overflows. £19 one-off. Learn more →