Derwent West Cumbria and Duddon catchment
• Loweswater • Cumberland • ID: 751612 • Level
(33m ago) • 4 readings/hr • 115 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.
Get notified when recent rainfall near this gauge crosses its learnt rise trigger — an early "watch"
signal, typically hours before a rise. Experimental; not an official flood warning.
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Current Level
0.952 m
▲ Rising slightly
24h Max
0.955 m
24h Min
0.630 m
Typical Range
0.31 - 0.97
m
Highest Recorded
3.54 m
EA official record
2.87 in our data (since Mar 1974)
Current level is 27% 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 7 Oct (2 days behind — the EA publishes each day's mean a day or two after it ends; unchecked, provisional)via EA Hydrology
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.
2 other overflows within 6 km are downstream of this gauge or on another branch of the river network, so they are not listed.
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 →
In a typical year this gauge reaches its typical high of 0.97 m
on about 37 days.
This year so far: 11 days.
202611 days, 1 of them high · 1 highso far
202543 days, 11 of them high · 11 high
202438 days, 9 of them high · 9 high
202354 days, 6 of them high · 6 high
202227 days, 4 of them high · 4 high
202132 days, 9 of them high · 9 high
202056 days, 10 of them high · 10 high
201933 days, 4 of them high · 4 high
201817 days, 1 of them high · 1 high
201730 days, 5 of them high · 5 high
Counted from each day's highest reading. Days with missing or implausible readings are left out.
The darker part is days above 1.37 m, the level this gauge tops only a few days a year.
Flood history near this gauge
Official Environment Agency warnings issued since 2006 for the 7 flood
areas linked to this gauge (nearest 5.2 km away).
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 Loweswater flood history.
Flood areas linked to this gauge
Flood warnings and alerts are issued for whole areas. These are the 7 areas linked to this gauge, nearest first.
🌊 Steep & flashySteep 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
0.44
mixed response
Avg Annual Rainfall
2,377 mm/yr
1991–2020 · -1% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
0.0%
largely rural
Highest Daily Mean Flow
131 m³/s
19 Nov 2009 · 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 compound Crump weir gauging an entirely rural catchment. Downstream of Crummock water, low flows are mostly compensation flows.
More detail
The catchment
Entirely rural, heathland, moorland and rough pasture over impervious Ordovician Skiddaw Slates and Borrowdale Volcanics. Substantial outcrop of granitic intrusion. Drift covered to the elevation of Crummock Water. Catchment contains Buttermere, Crummock Water and Loweswater, which run into each other. No catchment changes known.
The station
Non-standard compound weir with Crump centre section. Straight approach upstream, uniform flow. Generally used in conjunction with 75004 Southwaite.
How it measures flow
Stable rating to bankfull (1.215m); above this structure completely drowned, flow over both banks (upstream bypassing on left bank above 0.8m). Low flows good. Pebble/gravel bed, with stone walls at either side. Walls eroded and prone to flooding. No permanent cableway. The Cocker was modelled in 1997 (ISIS Hydrodynamic Model) as part of the River Derwent S105 Flood Mapping Study in 1997; rating reviewed but not recalculated. Rated by current meter to 0.74m.
Flow regime
Downstream of Crummock Water, flow regulated, mostly compensation at low flows.
The flow record
29/10 - 7/11/97 data suspect due to vandalism and repair of sluice gates at Crummock.
Timing, not cause. Gauges can move together simply because the same rain fell on both.
Frequently asked questions
Is the River Cocker at Scalehill Upper Lorton Valley flooding today?
The current level is 0.95m, which is within the typical range of 0.31 to 0.97m. Flooding is unlikely at this level.
Is the river level rising or falling at Scalehill Upper Lorton Valley?
Based on the most recent readings, the level is currently rising slightly. 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 Cocker at Scalehill Upper Lorton Valley?
The typical range at this station is 0.31m to 0.97m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 0.97m 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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