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0.06

Rutherford Bridge

Greta
Tees catchment • Boldron • County Durham • ID: F3523 • Level
(25m ago) • 4 readings/hr • 146 views

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Current Level
0.063 m
▬ Steady
24h Max
0.071 m
24h Min
0.063 m
Typical Range
0.07 - 1.50
m
Highest Recorded
2.79 m
EA official record
2.67 in our data (since Jan 1982)
Current level is 2% of this
🚽 Sewage overflows nearby

Recent Water Levels

🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day

Recent Readings

Steady over 6h
24 Aug 00:00 ▬ steady 0.063 m
23 Aug 23:45 ▬ steady 0.063 m
23 Aug 23:30 ▬ steady 0.063 m
23 Aug 23:15 ▬ steady 0.063 m
23 Aug 23:00 ▬ steady 0.063 m
23 Aug 22:45 ▬ steady 0.063 m
23 Aug 21:30 ▬ steady 0.063 m
23 Aug 21:15 ▬ steady 0.063 m
23 Aug 21:00 ▬ steady 0.063 m
23 Aug 20:45 ▬ steady 0.063 m
23 Aug 20:30 ▬ steady 0.063 m
23 Aug 20:15 ▬ steady 0.063 m
23 Aug 20:00 ▬ steady 0.063 m
23 Aug 19:45 ▬ steady 0.063 m
23 Aug 19:30 ▬ steady 0.063 m
23 Aug 19:15 ▬ steady 0.063 m
23 Aug 19:00 ▬ steady 0.063 m
23 Aug 18:45 ▬ steady 0.063 m
23 Aug 18:30 ▬ steady 0.063 m
23 Aug 18:15 0.063 m

Rainfall & Weather

Loading rainfall and weather data...

Flood history near this gauge

Official Environment Agency warnings issued since 2022 for the 1 flood area linked to this gauge (nearest 4.3 km away).

1flood warning 0flood alerts

Most recent flood warning: 20 Feb 2022River Tees at Barnard Castle

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 Boldron flood history.

Nearby Stations

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Station Details

  • Monitoring Station: Rutherford Bridge
  • Watercourse: River Greta
  • Nearest Town: Boldron
  • County: County Durham
  • Nearest reservoir: Lune & Balder - Hury (10.1 km) · 94.9% full (as of 28 Dec 2025)
  • Coordinates: 54°30'18"N 1°56'56"W (54.505090, -1.948998)
  • Open in: Google Maps · Apple Maps (opens your maps app)
  • Date Opened: 1 Oct 1960
  • Status: Active
  • Station Type: River level station
  • Station Reference: F3523
  • EA Gauge ID: F3523-level-stage-i-15_min-m
  • Parameter: Level
  • Unit: m
  • Typical rise rate: 2 cm/hr (p95 sustained over 90 days)
  • Typical data delay: ~22 min (measured reading→publication lag)
  • Tidal: No
  • Lock / structure: No
  • Catchment Area: Tees
  • Typical Range: 0.073 – 1.500 m
  • Drainage Area: 86 km² upstream of this gauge
  • Flow Data: Available (m³/s) via EA Hydrology
  • EA Cross-check: 0.06 m (EA at 23 Aug 23:45)
  • 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

🌊 Flashy Rain runs off fast — levels rise and fall sharply, often 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
0.24
flashy — rain runs off fast
Avg Annual Rainfall
1,186 mm/yr
1991–2020 · -6% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
0.1%
largely rural
Median Annual Flood
75.10 m³/s
QMED — typical yearly peak flow
Highest Recorded Flow
59.20 m³/s
5 Dec 2015
Flow-Duration Curve
mean 2.359.840.8390.1135% (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 1%Grassland 24%Heath/scrub 75%

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 crump weir at the end of a rock fall.

More detail

The catchment

A steep, eastward draining catchment in the Pennines developed largely on Millstone Grit, with nearly the whole catchment overlain by superficial deposits of peat and boulder clay. Mainly moorland and grass pasture. No known catchment changes.

The station

Compound Crump profile weir, total width 19.2m, central low flow crest 3m wide. Constructed at the head of a natural rock fall. No change in control since construction, no permanent cableway although gauged with a temporary winch. Flow is turbulent even when low.

How it measures flow

Remains modular throughout range. Some bypassing over wing walls, before they were extended, but in extreme cases wrack marks were surveyed in. Ice has been reported in the stilling well in severe winter conditions. Theoretical daily flow rating improved with check gaugings. Previous rating based on structure dimensions and valid up to top of dividing piers. New rating developed in 2010 and modified in March 2013 to improve derivation of low flows, applied from the start of the record. Check gaugings show good fit to rating up to maximum gauging of 1.13m. Flood Studies Report grade B.

Flow regime

Responsive, natural regime. No known artificial influences.

The flow record

Extreme flood level in August 1986 exceeded stilling well floor level; peak may be slightly under-estimated as a result. Missing data in February 2008 due to inaccurate drift correction. Flows reprocessed from 1982 onwards in 2002. New rating applied to whole record in March 2013. Full period of record peak flow data reviewed and released in September 2019 (WINFAP Files v8).

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
1960
Station datum
223.0 mAOD
Flow record
1960–2024 · 64 yrs · 100% complete
Peak-flow record
since 1960
Hydrometric area
25
Measured by
Environment Agency

Frequently asked questions

Is the River Greta at Rutherford Bridge flooding today?

The current level is 0.06m, which is below the typical range. Flooding is very unlikely at this level.

Is the river level rising or falling at Rutherford 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.

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 8.9mm 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 Greta at Rutherford Bridge?

The typical range at this station is 0.07m to 1.50m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 1.50m 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 →