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-0.22

West Ayton

Derwent
Derwent catchment • East Ayton • North Yorkshire • ID: F2708 • Level
(23m ago) • 4 readings/hr • 132 views

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Current Level
-0.218 m
▬ Steady
24h Max
-0.129 m
24h Min
-0.218 m
Typical Range
0.06 - 0.55
m
Highest Recorded
0.66 m
2 Aug 2002
Since Apr 1972
🚽 Sewage overflows nearby

Recent Water Levels

🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day

Recent Readings

Falling · -0.3 cm over 6h
23 Aug 23:30 ▬ steady -0.218 m
23 Aug 23:15 ▬ steady -0.218 m
23 Aug 23:00 ▬ steady -0.218 m
23 Aug 22:45 ▬ steady -0.218 m
23 Aug 21:30 ▬ steady -0.218 m
23 Aug 21:15 ▬ steady -0.218 m
23 Aug 21:00 ▬ steady -0.218 m
23 Aug 20:45 ▬ steady -0.218 m
23 Aug 20:30 ▬ steady -0.218 m
23 Aug 20:15 ▬ steady -0.218 m
23 Aug 20:00 ▬ steady -0.218 m
23 Aug 19:45 ▬ steady -0.218 m
23 Aug 19:30 ▬ steady -0.218 m
23 Aug 19:15 ▬ steady -0.218 m
23 Aug 19:00 ▬ steady -0.218 m
23 Aug 18:45 ▬ steady -0.218 m
23 Aug 18:30 ▬ steady -0.218 m
23 Aug 18:15 ▼ -0.1 cm -0.218 m
23 Aug 18:00 ▼ -0.2 cm -0.217 m
23 Aug 17:45 -0.215 m

Rainfall & Weather

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Flood history near this gauge

Official Environment Agency warnings issued since 2010 for the 7 flood areas linked to this gauge (nearest 0.8 km away).

135flood warnings 240flood alerts

Most recent flood warning: 18 Feb 2026North Sea at Scarborough - Sandside

Year by year
YearWarningsAlerts
2026 8 4
2025 0 2
2024 6 9
2023 12 12
2022 12 12
2021 18 19
2020 20 20
2019 9 11
2018 6 18
2017 10 19
2016 3 17
2015 1 19
2014 9 16
2013 14 18
2012 4 23
2011 2 13
2010 1 8

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 East Ayton flood history.

Nearby Stations

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Station Details

  • Monitoring Station: West Ayton
  • Watercourse: River Derwent
  • Nearest Town: East Ayton
  • County: North Yorkshire
  • Coordinates: 54°15'4"N 0°29'4"W (54.251128, -0.484316)
  • Open in: Google Maps · Apple Maps (opens your maps app)
  • Date Opened: 1 Jan 1967
  • Status: Active
  • Station Type: River level station
  • Station Reference: F2708
  • EA Gauge ID: F2708-level-stage-i-15_min-m
  • Parameter: Level
  • Unit: m
  • Typical rise rate: 1 cm/hr (p95 sustained over 90 days)
  • Typical data delay: ~22 min (measured reading→publication lag)
  • Tidal: No
  • Lock / structure: No
  • Catchment Area: Derwent
  • Typical Range: 0.064 – 0.550 m
  • Drainage Area: 127 km² upstream of this gauge
  • Flow Data: Available (m³/s) via EA Hydrology
  • EA Cross-check: -0.22 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

🌊 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
0.47
mixed response
Avg Annual Rainfall
876 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +4% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
0.1%
largely rural
Highest Recorded Flow
5.10 m³/s
5 Jan 2004
Flow-Duration Curve
mean 0.5091.420.3650.0335% (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 48%Grassland 26%Arable 8%Heath/scrub 18%

Flow affected by: public water supply, groundwater 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

Compound thin-plate weir. Flows diverted to the Sea Cut (measured at 27033) at high flows.

More detail

The catchment

Jurassic Sandstone, Limestone and Shales. Predominantly rural catchment with substantial (just under half) forest cover. No known catchment changes.

The station

Compound thin-plate weir, 11m wide in total, central notch is 3m wide.

How it measures flow

Large drop over weir should exclude drowning. Theoretical daily and peak flow rating with check gaugings. Flood Studies Report grade A1.

Flow regime

Catchment contains swallow holes; significant losses between 27048 and a nearby u/s monitoring site (Forge Valley). Flow from 70% of the catchment area can be diverted to the Sea Cut at a diversion structure approx 5km upstream (measured at 27033). Flow can drop suddenly when the diversion structure is operated and peak flows are not representative of the full catchment response as a result. Normal operation is for the sluice to be open and all flow to pass down the Derwent.

The flow record

Various periods of missing data throughout 2010 and 2011 a result of issues with the stilling well and a bank collapse. Missing data caused by silting also occurred during 2013 and 2014. Periods of missing data during 2019/2020 due to issues with the stilling well and sensor.

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
1972
Station datum
34.2 mAOD
Flow record
1967–2024 · 57 yrs · 95% complete
Hydrometric area
27
Measured by
Environment Agency

Frequently asked questions

Is the River Derwent at West Ayton flooding today?

The current level is -0.22m, which is below the typical range. Flooding is very unlikely at this level.

Is the river level rising or falling at West Ayton?

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 Derwent at West Ayton?

The typical range at this station is 0.06m to 0.55m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 0.55m 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 →