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⤴Unusual rise — FloodRadar+Top 1% rise rate for this gauge.
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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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EA/SEPA/NRW data and are best-efforts. Terms
Current Level
0.816 m
▲ Rising slightly
24h Max
0.981 m
24h Min
0.795 m
Typical Range
0.54 - 2.50
m
Highest Recorded
3.28 m
EA official record
3.28 in our data (since Jan 1982)
Current level is 25% 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.
35 storm overflows are traced upstream of this gauge, the nearest 12.0 km away along the river. 0 report discharging now, 33 report not discharging, and for 2 the monitor is offline or has not reported, so their status is not known.
Northumbrian Water · into Trib Of The River Skerne · 5.5 km away in a straight line · no mapped watercourse close enough to be sure
12 spills · 67 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
3 more within 6 km whose connection is not known.
28 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 →
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 Low Coniscliffe flood history.
Flood areas linked to this gauge
Flood warnings and alerts are issued for whole areas. These are the 8 areas linked to this gauge, nearest first.
🌊 Fairly flashyResponds 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
1,178 mm/yr
1991–2020 · -4% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
0.5%
largely rural
Median Annual Flood
390 m³/s
QMED — typical yearly peak flow
Highest Daily Mean Flow
439 m³/s
5 Dec 2015 · 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.
Compound Crump profile weir with two low flow crests. Heavily influenced by reservoir storage, abstractions and discharges throughout the period of record.
More detail
The catchment
Predominantly upland catchment, headwaters draining the Pennines. Mainly Millstone Grit and Carboniferous Limestone (sandstone, shale and limestone facies), with the majority of the catchment overlain by superficial deposits of peat and Boulder Clay. Moorland and rough pasture give way to more intensive agriculture in the lower reaches. No known catchment changes.
The station
Compound Crump profile weir with total crest length of 63.9m. Two low-flow crests total 9.1m. Gauged ultrasonically from 2002 but this was abandoned in 2011 due to poor performance. D/s level measurement installed 2003. No changes to control since construction apart from fish pass (1992-1993) inserted in low flow weir. There have been bank breaches in the past, and updated modelling work in Jan 2024 indicates that the right bank overtops into the Cleasby washlands at around 3.2m stage. This means that only the very highest AMAX events are affected.
How it measures flow
Modular up to approx. 2.5m. Hydraulic modelling suggests up to 20% bypassing flow at > 100 year return period. Single peak flow rating applies across the period of record, extrapolated using hydraulic model. Flood Studies Report grade A1 for all except one occasion.
Flow regime
Significant export of water from direct supply reservoirs (six reservoirs with a total area of 180.7 sq.km totalling 22.1% of catchment) progressively influencing during record period (Selset 1960, Balderhead 1965, Cow Green 1970). Cow Green operation includes winter flood storage drawdown, and river regulation to support abstraction and statutory minimum flows. U/s abstraction for industry during 1960s subject to a minimum 5MGD passing weir; continued until Balderhead Reservoir completed. Significant export of water from direct supply and abstraction u/s. Some regulation from Cow Green Reservoir. Import from Tyne via Kielder Tunnel in exceptional drought years.
The flow record
Three AMAX events (Aug 1986, Jan 1995 and June 2000) have stage values within 1mm of one another as a result of overtopping; evidence suggests 2000 was the highest and may have been 25-30% higher. 1959 minimum may have been influenced by abstraction immediately u/s. New rating developed in September 2014 and applied from 1982 onwards, reduced flows for the highest AMAX events. Historic daily mean flow data from 1956 - 1981 has not been reprocessed. Drop in flows 03-16/05/2017 caused by draw down for essential maintenance at Cow Green Reservoir. Full period of record peak flow data reviewed and released in September 2020 (WINFAP Files v9).
Timing, not cause. Gauges can move together simply because the same rain fell on both.
Frequently asked questions
Is the River Tees at Broken Scar flooding today?
The current level is 0.82m, which is within the typical range of 0.54 to 2.50m. Flooding is unlikely at this level.
Is the river level rising or falling at Broken Scar?
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 Tees at Broken Scar?
The typical range at this station is 0.54m to 2.50m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 2.50m 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:
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1985 Central Crump sections looking upstream
1985 Weir from left bank
1985 View upstream towards the weir
1985 Looking upstream towards the weir from the left bank
1985 Looking upstream from the weir on the left bank
1985 Looking downstream to the weir from the left bank
Weir from left bank