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0.30

Chester-Le-Street

Wear
Wear catchment • Chester-Le-Street • County Durham • ID: 024009 • Level
(47m ago) • 2 readings/hr • 160 views

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Current Level
0.304 m
▬ Steady
24h Max
0.316 m
24h Min
0.304 m
Typical Range
0.29 - 3.00
m
Highest Recorded
5.01 m
17 Mar 2023
Since Sep 1981
Current level is 6% of this
🚽 Sewage overflows nearby

Recent Water Levels

🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day

Recent Readings

Falling · -0.3 cm over 6h
23 Aug 22:45 ▬ steady 0.304 m
23 Aug 22:30 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.304 m
23 Aug 21:15 ▬ steady 0.305 m
23 Aug 21:00 ▬ steady 0.305 m
23 Aug 20:45 ▬ steady 0.305 m
23 Aug 20:30 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.305 m
23 Aug 20:15 ▬ steady 0.306 m
23 Aug 20:00 ▬ steady 0.306 m
23 Aug 19:45 ▬ steady 0.306 m
23 Aug 19:30 ▬ steady 0.306 m
23 Aug 19:15 ▬ steady 0.306 m
23 Aug 19:00 ▬ steady 0.306 m
23 Aug 18:45 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.306 m
23 Aug 18:30 ▬ steady 0.305 m
23 Aug 18:15 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.305 m
23 Aug 18:00 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.306 m
23 Aug 17:45 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.305 m
23 Aug 17:30 ▬ steady 0.306 m
23 Aug 17:15 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.306 m
23 Aug 17:00 0.307 m

Rainfall & Weather

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Flood history near this gauge

Official Environment Agency warnings issued since 2011 for the 15 flood areas linked to this gauge (nearest 0.5 km away).

10flood warnings 122flood alerts

Most recent flood warning: 26 Dec 2015River Wear at Durham Riverside

Year by year
YearWarningsAlerts
2026 0 10
2025 0 8
2024 0 9
2023 0 14
2022 0 5
2021 0 3
2020 0 6
2019 0 10
2018 0 15
2017 0 5
2016 0 6
2015 2 6
2014 0 3
2013 2 9
2012 6 11
2011 0 2

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 Chester-Le-Street flood history.

Nearby Stations

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Station Details

  • Station Reference: 024009
  • EA Gauge ID: 024009-level-stage-i-15_min-m
  • Parameter: Level
  • Unit: m
  • Typical rise rate: 1 cm/hr (p95 sustained over 90 days)
  • Typical data delay: ~37 min (measured reading→publication lag)
  • Tidal: No
  • Lock / structure: No
  • Catchment Area: Wear
  • Typical Range: 0.289 – 3.000 m
  • Drainage Area: 1,008 km² upstream of this gauge
  • Flow Data: Available (m³/s) via EA Hydrology
  • EA Cross-check: 0.30 m (EA at 23 Aug 22:30)
  • 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
0.35
mixed response
Avg Annual Rainfall
921 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +4% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
3.1%
partly urbanised
Median Annual Flood
257 m³/s
QMED — typical yearly peak flow
Highest Recorded Flow
339 m³/s
7 Nov 2000
Flow-Duration Curve
mean 15.1550.108.043.165% (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 10%Grassland 48%Arable 14%Heath/scrub 21%Urban 6%Other 1%
Arable 21% → 14% since 1990

Flow affected by: reservoir influence, 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

Flat-V weir close to the tidal limit of the Wear. Flow regime influenced by reservoirs, abstractions and minewater discharges.

More detail

The catchment

Carboniferous Limestone and Millstone Grit, with over two thirds of the catchment overlain by superficial deposits (mainly Boulder Clay). Land use half grass pasture, moorland in Pennine headwaters, arable and built-up areas in lower valley. No known catchment changes.

The station

Flat V weir in 33m wide channel, close to tidal limit of Wear but this is not thought to affect the tailwater level.

How it measures flow

Non-standard flat V weir (1:2, 1:2 profile, 1:40 cross-slope), becomes non-modular at moderate flow and fully drowned at high flow. Spills onto wide left bank floodplain above 1m stage, floodplain gently rises for some distance before flattening off but largest peaks cover much of the recreation grounds between the river and the A167 dual carriageway. One peak flow rating applied across period of record, checked by gaugings from upstream bridge to 3.8m stage (330 cumecs)(within 15% of AMAX1) with fairly stable extrapolation. Flow is not affected by tidal limit downstream. Vertical tile eel pass installed in 2015.

Flow regime

Peaks of very large events are flattened. Reservoirs in catchment include Burnhope and Tunstall. In drought years low flows supported by Kielder transfer (flows maintained >2 cumecs). Abstraction for Wearside water supply is upstream of gauging station at Lumley. Also affected by minewater discharges (regime has changed since pit closures). Artificial influences created a distinctive diurnal variation, especially at low flows, until 2004.

The flow record

Gaugeboard survey in 2013 identified historic error between 06/2000 and 09/2013, levels in this period lowered by 36mm and flows re-processed. Full period of record peak flow data reviewed and released in August 2021 (WINFAP Files v10).

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
1977
Station datum
5.5 mAOD
Flow record
1977–2024 · 47 yrs · 100% complete
Peak-flow record
since 1977
Hydrometric area
24
Measured by
Environment Agency

Frequently asked questions

Is the River Wear at Chester-Le-Street flooding today?

The current level is 0.30m, which is within the typical range of 0.29 to 3.00m. Flooding is unlikely at this level.

Is the river level rising or falling at Chester-Le-Street?

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 Wear at Chester-Le-Street?

The typical range at this station is 0.29m to 3.00m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 3.00m 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 →