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⏱ Last reading 6h ago · may be out of date
0.87

Ulpha

Duddon
South Cumbria catchment • Hall Dunnerdale • Cumberland • ID: 740101 • Level
(6h ago) • 4 readings/hr • 200 views

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Last Level
0.868 m
⚠ 6h ago · may be out of date
24h Max
1.347 m
24h Min
0.499 m
Typical Range
0.24 - 1.50
m
Highest Recorded
2.07 m
EA official record
2.07 in our data (since Jan 1973)
Current level is 42% of this
🚽 Sewage overflows nearby

Recent Water Levels

🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day

Recent Readings

Falling · -22 cm over 5h
09 Oct 16:30 ▼ -0.5 cm 0.868 m
09 Oct 16:15 ▼ -0.4 cm 0.873 m
09 Oct 16:00 ▼ -1 cm 0.877 m
09 Oct 15:45 ▼ -0.5 cm 0.887 m
09 Oct 15:30 ▼ -0.4 cm 0.892 m
09 Oct 15:15 ▼ -2 cm 0.896 m
09 Oct 15:00 ▼ -0.4 cm 0.913 m
09 Oct 14:45 ▼ -1 cm 0.917 m
09 Oct 14:30 ▼ -1 cm 0.931 m
09 Oct 14:15 ▼ -0.2 cm 0.946 m
09 Oct 14:00 ▼ -2 cm 0.948 m
09 Oct 13:45 ▼ -0.7 cm 0.972 m
09 Oct 13:30 ▼ -2 cm 0.979 m
09 Oct 13:15 ▼ -1.0 cm 0.997 m
09 Oct 13:00 ▼ -2 cm 1.007 m
09 Oct 12:45 ▼ -1 cm 1.029 m
09 Oct 12:30 ▼ -1 cm 1.041 m
09 Oct 12:15 ▼ -1 cm 1.052 m
09 Oct 12:00 ▼ -2 cm 1.066 m
09 Oct 11:45 1.088 m

Station Details

  • Monitoring Station: Ulpha
  • Watercourse: River Duddon
  • Nearest Town: Hall Dunnerdale
  • County: Cumberland
  • Coordinates: 54°20'31"N 3°13'5"W (54.341859, -3.218047)
  • Open in: Google Maps · Apple Maps (opens your maps app)
  • Date Opened: 1 Jan 1972
  • Status: Active
  • Station Type: River level station
Technical details: references, datum, range, flow archive
  • Station Reference: 740101
  • RLOI id: 5142 (the EA's check-for-flooding station id)
  • EA Gauge ID: 740101-level-stage-i-15_min-m
  • Parameter: Level
  • Unit: m
  • Typical rise rate: 6 cm/hr (p95 sustained over 90 days)
  • Typical data delay: ~22 min (measured reading→publication lag)
  • Tidal: No
  • Lock / structure: No
  • Catchment Area: South Cumbria
  • Typical Range: 0.244 – 1.500 m
  • Drainage Area: 48 km² upstream of this gauge
  • Flow Data: Daily mean flow (m³/s) to 7 Oct (2 days behind — the EA publishes each day's mean a day or two after it ends; unchecked, provisional) via EA Hydrology
  • EA Cross-check: 0.87 m (EA at 9 Oct 16:30)
  • 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.

Nearby Stations

Gauges connected to this river, and others nearby. A distance “by river” follows the river on the map; any other is in a straight line.

Connected downstream

Nearby

Distances by river: OS Open Rivers. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database rights 2026.

💧 Storm overflows upstream of this gauge

None of the storm overflows FloodRadar holds is traced upstream of this gauge on the mapped river network. That is not the same as none: the map leaves out many small streams and culverts, so an overflow it cannot place may still drain here, and not every company publishes every overflow.

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 →

Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database rights 2026.

Rainfall & Weather

Loading rainfall and weather data...

How often this river runs high

In a typical year this gauge reaches its typical high of 1.50 m on about 2 days. This year so far: 0 days.

2026 0 days so far
2025 5 days
2024 0 days
2023 3 days
2022 1 day
2021 4 days
2020 0 days
2019 2 days
2018 1 day
2017 3 days

Counted from each day's highest reading. Days with missing or implausible readings are left out.

Flood history near this gauge

Official Environment Agency warnings issued since 2006 for the 2 flood areas linked to this gauge (nearest 4.0 km away).

0flood warnings 255flood alerts

Most recent flood alert: 25 Mar 2026 — Rivers Duddon, Crake and Mill Beck

Year by year
YearWarningsAlerts
2026 0 4
2025 0 15
2024 0 19
2023 0 20
2022 0 10
2021 0 11
2020 0 12
2019 0 12
2018 0 4
2017 0 12
2016 0 5
2015 0 13
2014 0 2
2013 0 6
2012 0 9
2011 0 6
2010 0 8
2009 0 11
2008 0 27
2007 0 26
2006 0 23

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 Hall Dunnerdale 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.

Catchment Character

🌊 Steep & flashy Steep catchment sheds rain quickly — expect fast, sharp rises after 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
0.32
flashy — rain runs off fast
Avg Annual Rainfall
2,632 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +1% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
0.0%
largely rural
Median Annual Flood
68.02 m³/s
QMED — typical yearly peak flow
Highest Daily Mean Flow
77.80 m³/s
19 Nov 2009 · daily mean, not the instantaneous peak
Flow-Duration Curve
mean 3.2411.501.640.2865% (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 12%Grassland 86%Heath/scrub 1%Other 1%
Heath/scrub 4% → 1% since 1990

Flow affected by: surface-water abstraction, 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

Non-standard three bay compound broad-crested weir gauging a steeply sloping flashy catchment containing Seathwaite Tarn.

More detail

The catchment

Geology of impervious Ordovician Andesitic Lavas, virtually drift free. Steeply sloping, thin soils, sheep pasture. No urbanisation. Catchment includes Seathwaite Tarn. No catchment changes known.

The station

Station opened 1971. Non-standard compound broad-crested weir, three different crest levels (heights zero, 0.31m, 0.54m) of varying widths and lengths. Structure at obtuse angle on a gentle right bend. Approach banks are man-made stone walls. Eel passes installed in 2019.

How it measures flow

The bed is concrete and there is no silting. Stony bed. Weir walls contain all flows. Levels may be affected by surging during high flows. No cableway. Waded current metering 100 m downstream of weir. Although well-gauged to around 0.72m, the two higher gaugings (around QMED) were obtained in 1979 using a portable cableway and accuracy is uncertain. The post-1982 peak flow rating is applied across the period of record pending review, but there is considerable uncertainty in top end ratings and limited drivers for improvement at this site.

Flow regime

Major abstraction 10m upstream for Barrow public water supply. Compensation flow from Seathwaite Tarn 8km upstream.

The flow record

Full period of record peak flow data reviewed and released in September 2022 (WINFAP Files v11).

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
1971
Station datum
75.9 mAOD
Flow record
1973–2024 · 51 yrs · 99% complete
Peak-flow record
since 1971
Hydrometric area
74
Measured by
Environment Agency

Rain upstream

This gauge has no rain model of its own, but it usually follows Miller Bridge House: when about 6mm of rain falls near Miller Bridge House in 6h, this gauge usually starts rising about 75 minutes later.

Recent rain upstream: 3.3mm/6h — below Miller Bridge House's usual trigger.

Record: this held 6 of 9 times (live) · rain gauge: Rainfall station

Experimental, from historical rain and river data. Not an official flood warning.

Frequently asked questions

Is the River Duddon at Ulpha flooding today?

The current level is 0.87m, which is within the typical range of 0.24 to 1.50m. Flooding is unlikely at this level.

Is the river level rising or falling at Ulpha?

Based on the most recent readings, the level is currently falling. 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 Duddon at Ulpha?

The typical range at this station is 0.24m 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 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:

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, recorded floods, warning history, river behaviour and nearby storm overflows. £19 one-off. Learn more →