Weaver and Dane catchment
• Wimboldsley Green • Cheshire East • ID: 680504 • Level
(36m ago) • 4 readings/hr • 110 views
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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.
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.
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Current Level
0.483 m
▬ Steady
24h Max
0.495 m
24h Min
0.298 m
Typical Range
0.32 - 3.20
m
Highest Recorded
4.42 m
EA official record
4.38 in our data (since Dec 1977)
Current level is 11% of this
🚽Sewage overflows nearby
Recent Water Levels
🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day
EA forecast (official)
Prediction V2
Prediction Eris
Nimbus beta
Experimental model fusing soil moisture, river flow, groundwater and catchment
character. The shaded band is its 10–90% range, widened so that about 80% of recent outcomes fall inside it.
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.
Flow Data: Daily mean flow (m³/s) to 8 Oct (2 days behind — the EA publishes each day's mean a day or two after it ends; unchecked, provisional)via EA Hydrology
Storm overflows whose water reaches this gauge on the mapped river network, nearest first by distance along the river. The status is each water company's monitor: it says whether an overflow is discharging, not how much or what it contains.
27 storm overflows are traced upstream of this gauge, the nearest 11.1 km away along the river. 0 report discharging now, 25 report not discharging, and for 2 the monitor is offline or has not reported, so their status is not known.
United Utilities · into River Wheelock · 4.2 km away in a straight line · not connected to this gauge on the river map
1 spill · 0 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
10 more within 6 km whose connection is not known.
These are the water companies' monitor statuses; a spill does not by itself explain a change in the gauge level. River connections and distances are traced on OS Open Rivers (edition 2026-04), which leaves out many small channels. Explore the sewage map →
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 Wimboldsley Green flood history.
Flood areas linked to this gauge
Flood warnings and alerts are issued for whole areas. These are the 2 areas linked to this gauge, nearest first.
🌊 Mixed responseA balance of quick runoff and slower groundwater baseflow.
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
0.51
mixed response
Avg Annual Rainfall
747 mm/yr
1991–2020 · -2% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
2.7%
largely rural
Median Annual Flood
46.82 m³/s
QMED — typical yearly peak flow
Highest Daily Mean Flow
84.95 m³/s
9 Feb 1946 · daily mean, not the instantaneous peak
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.
Non-standard shallow V weir draining a catchment that includes the towns of Nantwich and Crewe but is largely rural.
More detail
The catchment
A generally low relief catchment below the headwaters with steep upper reaches. Mixed geology, consisting of Keuper Marl overlain with mostly post-glacial deposits. Lower Lias shales in the south with Coal Measures, Permian Sandstones and Bunter Pebble Beds in the east; mostly low permeability with extensive Drift cover. Land use is largely agricultural but catchment includes Nantwich and parts of Crewe.
The station
Opened in 1937 as a velocity area station which suffered from a mobile bed and weed problems. Station was relocated 400m downstream in August 1978 with a non-standard timber shallow V weir as bed control, 16.5m wide located just u/s of a bend in the river. There was a brief overlap between the stations.
How it measures flow
Cableway present. Mobile control. Weir drowns at relatively low flows. Bypassing on right bank above 3.5m; inundates adjacent fields, but not regularly. Prone to weed and algal growth, and sedimentation. There have been significant changes to the channel, including works immediately upstream of the station, and collapse of the right bank during the winter 1992/93 with channel improvements some years later. Peak flow ratings derived from gaugings, extrapolated when overtopping the right bank. Multiple ratings applied to reflect changes in bank profile, maintenance, sedimentation and downstream conditions. Early gaugings lost; rating accuracy unknown. Flood Studies Report grade A2.
Flow regime
The flat catchment tends to produce sluggish hydrographs, though some rise rapidly. High flows can be protracted, with recession delayed.
The flow record
Data before 1972, particularly low flows, are unreliable. Revised daily flow data from 15/08/1979 to 12/2008 loaded in 03/2010: new values are lower, especially at high flows - some reduced by over 25%; annual runoff typically reduced by 15%; max GDF unchanged, as it was in 1946. Full period of record peak flow data reviewed and released in October 2018 (WINFAP Files v7) and in August 2024 (WINFAP Files v13).
Timing, not cause. Gauges can move together simply because the same rain fell on both.
Frequently asked questions
Is the River Weaver at Ashbrook flooding today?
The current level is 0.48m, which is within the typical range of 0.32 to 3.20m. Flooding is unlikely at this level.
Is the river level rising or falling at Ashbrook?
Based on the most recent readings, the level is currently steady. The chart above shows the last 12 hours of measurements by default (up to 7 days), updated roughly every 15 minutes.
What is a normal level for the River Weaver at Ashbrook?
The typical range at this station is 0.32m to 3.20m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 3.20m are higher than usually seen and may indicate a flood risk.
How often is this river level data updated?
Readings are supplied by the Environment Agency gauge. FloodRadar checks for updates roughly every 15 minutes; the timestamp above shows how recent the latest available reading is.
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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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26 Nov 2014 View downstream from gauging station
26 Nov 2014 View upstream from gauging station
26 Nov 2014 Weir drowned
25 Sep 2012
1 Jun 2007 June 2007
1 Apr 2005
1 Jun 1990 Looking upsteam
1 Feb 1990
Looking upstream Jun 1990
Cableway, stanchion on left bank June 1990
Weir June 1990
Weir, looking downstream June 1990