← Back
0.33

Witton Park

Wear
Wear catchment • Witton Park • County Durham • ID: 024008 • Level
(46m ago) • 2 readings/hr • 122 views

Set water level alerts

Get notified about Witton Park — tick as many as you like, they all share the notify settings below.

Unusual rise FloodRadar+Top 1% rise rate for this gauge.
Drag the line on the chart, or type a value: m
Quick pick:

Each one is saved as its own alert — pause or remove them individually any time.

Not an emergency service — if in danger call 999. Alerts rely on EA/SEPA data and are best-efforts. Terms

Current Level
0.327 m
▬ Steady
24h Max
0.333 m
24h Min
0.327 m
Typical Range
0.29 - 3.40
m
Highest Recorded
4.53 m
15 Mar 2022
Since Jan 1982
Current level is 7% of this
🚽 Sewage overflows nearby

Recent Water Levels

🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day

Recent Readings

Steady over 6h
23 Aug 22:45 ▬ steady 0.327 m
23 Aug 22:30 ▬ steady 0.327 m
23 Aug 21:15 ▬ steady 0.327 m
23 Aug 21:00 ▬ steady 0.327 m
23 Aug 20:45 ▬ steady 0.327 m
23 Aug 20:30 ▬ steady 0.327 m
23 Aug 20:15 ▬ steady 0.327 m
23 Aug 20:00 ▬ steady 0.327 m
23 Aug 19:45 ▬ steady 0.327 m
23 Aug 19:30 ▬ steady 0.327 m
23 Aug 19:15 ▬ steady 0.327 m
23 Aug 19:00 ▬ steady 0.327 m
23 Aug 18:45 ▬ steady 0.327 m
23 Aug 18:30 ▬ steady 0.327 m
23 Aug 18:15 ▬ steady 0.327 m
23 Aug 18:00 ▬ steady 0.327 m
23 Aug 17:45 ▬ steady 0.327 m
23 Aug 17:30 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.327 m
23 Aug 17:15 ▬ steady 0.328 m
23 Aug 17:00 0.328 m

Rainfall & Weather

Loading rainfall and weather data...

Flood history near this gauge

Official Environment Agency warnings issued since 2010 for the 10 flood areas linked to this gauge (nearest 1.9 km away).

5flood warnings 55flood alerts

Most recent flood warning: 9 Feb 2020River Wear at Bishop Auckland, Willington and Page Bank

Year by year
YearWarningsAlerts
2026 0 3
2025 0 2
2024 0 4
2023 0 11
2022 0 2
2020 2 3
2019 0 3
2018 0 3
2017 0 1
2016 0 3
2015 0 4
2014 0 2
2013 2 3
2012 1 8
2011 0 2
2010 0 1

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 Witton Park flood history.

Nearby Stations

Loading nearby stations...

Station Details

  • Station Reference: 024008
  • EA Gauge ID: 024008-level-stage-i-15_min-m
  • Parameter: Level
  • Unit: m
  • Typical rise rate: 1 cm/hr (p95 sustained over 90 days)
  • Typical data delay: ~27 min (measured reading→publication lag)
  • Tidal: No
  • Lock / structure: No
  • Catchment Area: Wear
  • Typical Range: 0.285 – 3.400 m
  • Drainage Area: 455 km² upstream of this gauge
  • Flow Data: Available (m³/s) via EA Hydrology
  • EA Cross-check: 0.33 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

🌊 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
0.34
flashy — rain runs off fast
Avg Annual Rainfall
1,107 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +3% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
0.4%
largely rural
Median Annual Flood
222 m³/s
QMED — typical yearly peak flow
Highest Recorded Flow
241 m³/s
23 Feb 1991
Flow-Duration Curve
mean 7.9927.704.081.205% (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 9%Grassland 42%Arable 2%Heath/scrub 45%Urban 1%Other 1%
Heath/scrub 35% → 45% since 1990

Flow affected by: surface-water abstraction, reservoir influence, public water supply.

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

Velocity area station with informal flat V weir. Flow regime influenced by Burnhope and Tunstall reservoirs.

More detail

The catchment

Predominantly upland Pennine catchment on mainly Carboniferous Limestone and Millstone Grit, with just under half the catchment overlain by superficial deposits (Boulder Clay and peat). Nearly two thirds grass pasture, with extensive moorland in headwaters, mixed land use in the lower valley. No known catchment changes.

The station

Velocity area station with informal flat V weir (25.3m overall, approx 1:20 side slopes) low flow control of rectangular section. Cableway.

How it measures flow

Flat V station prone to non-modularity and drowns at 0.815m. Flood banks both sides prevent bypassing. Gauge boards adjusted in July 2003 as a survey confirmed the average error as 70mm too low. One peak flow rating (Rating C) applied to the full period of record. Subsidence of weir between 1981 and 1991 is not thought to have impacted high flows. Gauging by cableway to flood levels, rating curve fitted to check gaugings.

Flow regime

Catchment contains Burnhope, Waskerley and Tunstall reservoirs (total direct catchment area 45 sq.km), and has a net export of water. Transfers by Kielder Tunnel from the Tyne catchment are made in drought years, entering the River Wear at Frosterley.

The flow record

Full period of record peak flow data reviewed and released in September 2020 (WINFAP Files v9). Rating reviewed in 2022 and data reprocessed from 1975.

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
Flat-V weir
Operating since
1972
Station datum
76.8 mAOD
Flow record
1972–2024 · 52 yrs · 99% complete
Peak-flow record
since 1972
Hydrometric area
24
Measured by
Environment Agency

Frequently asked questions

Is the River Wear at Witton Park flooding today?

The current level is 0.33m, which is within the typical range of 0.29 to 3.40m. Flooding is unlikely at this level.

Is the river level rising or falling at Witton Park?

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 Witton Park?

The typical range at this station is 0.29m to 3.40m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 3.40m 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:

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 →