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0.63

Skelton

Ouse
Swale, Ure, Nidd and Upper Ouse catchment • Nether Poppleton • York • ID: F2405 • Level
(21m ago) • 4 readings/hr • 137 views

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Current Level
0.628 m
▬ Steady
24h Max
0.676 m
24h Min
0.628 m
Typical Range
0.51 - 6.10
m
Highest Recorded
9.26 m
20 May 2015
Since Sep 1969
Current level is 7% of this
🚽 Sewage overflows nearby

Recent Water Levels

🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day

Recent Readings

Falling · -1 cm over 6h
24 Aug 00:30 ▬ steady 0.628 m
24 Aug 00:15 ▼ -0.2 cm 0.628 m
24 Aug 00:00 ▬ steady 0.630 m
23 Aug 23:45 ▬ steady 0.630 m
23 Aug 23:30 ▬ steady 0.630 m
23 Aug 23:15 ▼ -0.2 cm 0.630 m
23 Aug 23:00 ▬ steady 0.632 m
23 Aug 22:45 ▼ -0.2 cm 0.632 m
23 Aug 21:30 ▬ steady 0.634 m
23 Aug 21:15 ▬ steady 0.634 m
23 Aug 21:00 ▼ -0.2 cm 0.634 m
23 Aug 20:45 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.636 m
23 Aug 20:30 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.635 m
23 Aug 20:15 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.636 m
23 Aug 20:00 ▬ steady 0.635 m
23 Aug 19:45 ▼ -0.3 cm 0.635 m
23 Aug 19:30 ▼ -0.2 cm 0.638 m
23 Aug 19:15 ▬ steady 0.640 m
23 Aug 19:00 ▼ -0.2 cm 0.640 m
23 Aug 18:45 0.642 m

Rainfall & Weather

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Flood history near this gauge

Official Environment Agency warnings issued since 2010 for the 26 flood areas linked to this gauge (nearest 1.1 km away).

1severe warning 263flood warnings 213flood alerts

Most recent flood warning: 14 Mar 2026River Ouse at York - riverside properties

Year by year
YearSevereWarningsAlerts
2026 0 10 11
2025 0 12 13
2024 0 25 16
2023 0 32 17
2022 0 10 11
2021 0 23 15
2020 0 30 18
2019 0 14 18
2018 0 11 16
2017 0 4 12
2016 0 4 7
2015 1 31 10
2014 0 7 7
2013 0 6 12
2012 0 39 19
2011 0 5 10
2010 0 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 Nether Poppleton flood history.

Nearby Stations

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Station Details

  • Monitoring Station: Skelton
  • Watercourse: River Ouse
  • Nearest Town: Nether Poppleton
  • County: York
  • Coordinates: 53°59'29"N 1°8'7"W (53.991515, -1.135153)
  • Open in: Google Maps · Apple Maps (opens your maps app)
  • Date Opened: 18 Sep 1969
  • Status: Active
  • Station Type: River level station
  • Station Reference: F2405
  • EA Gauge ID: F2405-level-stage-i-15_min-m
  • Parameter: Level
  • Unit: m
  • Typical rise rate: 4 cm/hr (p95 sustained over 90 days)
  • Typical data delay: ~22 min (measured reading→publication lag)
  • Tidal: No
  • Lock / structure: No
  • Catchment Area: Swale, Ure, Nidd and Upper Ouse
  • Typical Range: 0.509 – 6.100 m
  • Drainage Area: 3,315 km² upstream of this gauge
  • Flow Data: Available (m³/s) via EA Hydrology
  • EA Cross-check: 0.63 m (EA at 24 Aug 00:15)
  • 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

🌊 Fairly flashy Responds fairly quickly to rain, with moderate baseflow between events.

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
0.44
mixed response
Avg Annual Rainfall
972 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +6% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
1.5%
largely rural
Median Annual Flood
323 m³/s
QMED — typical yearly peak flow
Highest Recorded Flow
608 m³/s
5 Jan 1982
Flow-Duration Curve
mean 53.0518330.007.835% (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 5%Grassland 45%Arable 28%Heath/scrub 17%Urban 3%Other 1%
Arable 33% → 28% since 1990

Flow affected by: surface-water abstraction, reservoir influence, public water supply, groundwater abstraction, industrial / agricultural abstraction.

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

Multi-path ultrasonic station since 1992. Previously velocity-area station. Catchment drains northern parts of the Vale of York and the Yorkshire Dales.

More detail

The catchment

Mixed geology, mostly of moderate permeability but highly permeable in lower reaches; extensive superficial deposits mask solid geology in much of catchment, particularly Vale of York. Large areas of Carboniferous Limestone and Millstone Grit in the west, Permian Magnesian Limestone in the central area and Keuper Marl and Triassic Sandstone to the east. Along the eastern border are rocks of the Lias and Great and Inferior Oolite Series. Predominantly rural catchment draining north parts of Vale of York and Yorkshire Dales, with some moorland headwaters. No known catchment changes.

The station

Multi-path (cross-configuration) ultrasonic station from 1992. It was previously a velocity-area station since 1956 (37m wide at low flows), with control exercised mainly by Naburn weir, 13km d/s. A key station for regulation of public water supply abstractions and flood risk management. It is a difficult site for flood estimation due to lack of similar catchments yet is not entirely suitable for single-site analysis.

How it measures flow

Velocity area station until 1992 with control influenced by the downstream channel and by Naburn weir, replaced by ultrasonic gauge from 1992. Banks raised when US gauge built, some minor bypassing in high flows prior to that, now all flow contained through the gauge section. Daily flow rating affected by sluice gate settings at Naburn, previous attempts to apply different ratings to account for this were unreliable, recent review (2023) reverted to single best fit rating curve for low flows, significant scatter in check gaugings show inherent variability in pre-ultrasonic flow data. Three high flow ratings applied to pre-ultrasonic period, based on hydraulic model analysis and check gaugings, and influenced by construction of flood defences downstream in York. Ultrasonic data since 1992, with back up ratings to infill where required, considered good throughout the range, although AMAX1 event (Nov 2000) had some unmeasured flow with estimated peak around 5% higher than measured.

Flow regime

Large catchment with significant floodplains leads to long, slow flood response lasting several days. Reservoirs influence flows in the Ure and Nidd tributaries, public water supply abstraction u/s at Niddmouth also a significant impact on low flows. Hydropower scheme at Linton Weir leads to short-term fluctuations in low flows but not significant at daily timestep.

The flow record

Pre-1992 records less reliable due to variability in stage-discharge relationship. Records reprocessed from 1969 following rating review, peak flows increased pre-1982 and reduced 1982-1992 as a result, daily flows also amended for this period. Nov 2000 peak under-estimated by gauge, peak flow has been corrected. Full period of record peak flow data reviewed and released in August 2024 (WINFAP Files v13).

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
Ultrasonic
Operating since
1969
Station datum
4.6 mAOD
Flow record
1969–2024 · 55 yrs · 99% complete
Peak-flow record
since 1886
Hydrometric area
27
Measured by
Environment Agency

Frequently asked questions

Is the River Ouse at Skelton flooding today?

The current level is 0.63m, which is within the typical range of 0.51 to 6.10m. Flooding is unlikely at this level.

Is the river level rising or falling at Skelton?

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.

Why is the level slowly falling?

When little or no rain has fallen for a while, a river level gradually drops as the water stored in the ground and soil drains away with nothing to replace it. This is called baseflow recession and is normal in dry spells. Only about 0.0mm of rain has fallen nearby in the last 7 days, so the flow is being sustained mainly by groundwater. A gentle decline like this is expected and is not a sign of a problem — downstream gauges often recede a little faster than headwaters further upstream, and levels recover once rain returns.

What is a normal level for the River Ouse at Skelton?

The typical range at this station is 0.51m to 6.10m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 6.10m 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:

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