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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.
Get notified when recent rainfall near this gauge crosses its learnt rise trigger — an early "watch"
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Current Level
0.066 m
▬ Steady
24h Max
0.068 m
24h Min
0.065 m
Typical Range
0.08 - 0.37
m
Highest Recorded
1.34 m
EA official record
1.23 in our data (since Aug 1969)
Current level is 5% 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
Steady over 6h
23 Aug 23:30▬ steady0.066 m
23 Aug 23:15▬ steady0.066 m
23 Aug 23:00▬ steady0.066 m
23 Aug 22:45▬ steady0.066 m
23 Aug 21:30▬ steady0.066 m
23 Aug 21:15▬ steady0.066 m
23 Aug 21:00▬ steady0.066 m
23 Aug 20:45▬ steady0.066 m
23 Aug 20:30▬ steady0.066 m
23 Aug 20:15▬ steady0.066 m
23 Aug 20:00▬ steady0.066 m
23 Aug 19:45▬ steady0.066 m
23 Aug 19:30▬ steady0.066 m
23 Aug 19:15▬ steady0.066 m
23 Aug 19:00▬ steady0.066 m
23 Aug 18:45▬ steady0.066 m
23 Aug 18:30▬ steady0.066 m
23 Aug 18:15▬ steady0.066 m
23 Aug 18:00▬ steady0.066 m
23 Aug 17:450.066 m
Rainfall & Weather
Loading rainfall and weather data...
Flood history near this gauge
Official Environment Agency warnings issued since 2010 for the 7 flood
areas linked to this gauge (nearest 1.6 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 Scalby Mills 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
🌊 Fairly flashyResponds 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
0.47
mixed response
Avg Annual Rainfall
813 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +6% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
5.3%
partly urbanised
Median Annual Flood
50.18 m³/s
QMED — typical yearly peak flow
Highest Recorded Flow
39.19 m³/s
5 Mar 1999
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.
Land Cover (2023)
Woodland 17%Grassland 50%Arable 22%Urban 11%
Arable 26% → 22% since 1990
Flow affected by: reservoir influence.
Photos
Gauging-station photographs from the National River Flow Archive (UKCEH).
Compound broad-crested weir in a diversion channel passing flood waters from the upper Derwent. This means the contributing area varies at high flows.
More detail
The catchment
The natural catchment drains part of the North York Moors. Contributing area varies by +/- 88.8 sq.km because of the artificial connection to the headwaters of the Derwent. Geology of natural catchment is Oolite Cornbrash, Oxford Clays and Corallian of the Jurassic Period, which dip south and are overlain in the east by thick Boulder Clay deposits. No known catchment changes.
The station
Compound broad-crested weir 21m wide with central notch 2.9m wide and crest level of 20.6 mAOD; the flanking weirs are 0.152m higher. A cascade of weirs, making drowning highly unlikely. The channel was artificially extended in the last century. The Sea Cut is primarily a diversion channel which passes flood waters from the upper 88.8 sq.km of the Derwent, although it has a small catchment of its own as well.
How it measures flow
Many springs d/s of the gauge hinder estimation of flow without the Derwent contribution. A sluice allows a maximum of 5 cumecs to flow into the Derwent when fully open, but can be overtopped. Daily flows rated by model tests. One peak flow rating applied across period of record. Good fit to available gaugings at lower flows but recent high flow gaugings suggest rating under-estimates high flows and a rating review is required. Flood Studies Report assumed grade to be A2.
Flow regime
Sea Cut flows are controlled by a sluice; the channel was artificially extended in the 19th century to join the Derwent, and now acts as an overflow channel in high flows.
The flow record
Full period of record peak flow data reviewed and released in September 2019 (WINFAP files v8). The catchment is classified as suitable for Neither QMED nor Pooling, but could be used in local studies after careful analysis of catchment area and other catchment descriptors.
How this gauging station is built and how long it has measured (NRFA / UKCEH).
Gauge type
Gauging structure
Operating since
1966
Station datum
20.6 mAOD
Flow record
1969–2024 · 55 yrs · 99% complete
Peak-flow record
since 1965
Hydrometric area
27
Measured by
Environment Agency
Nearby Groundwater
Soil Moisture
Possible storm-overflow correlation
🚽 Storm overflows on this river
Frequently asked questions
Is the Sea Cut at Scarborough flooding today?
The current level is 0.07m, which is below the typical range. Flooding is very unlikely at this level.
Is the river level rising or falling at Scarborough?
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 Sea Cut at Scarborough?
The typical range at this station is 0.08m to 0.37m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 0.37m 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.
Embed this gauge on your website
Free live river-level widget — ideal for parish councils, angling clubs and local sites. Updates automatically.
Preview
📮 Flood risk by postcode near this gauge
Postcodes within 5 km with properties in the Environment Agency’s rivers-and-sea flood-risk bands:
