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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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Current Level
0.190 m
▬ Steady
24h Max
0.315 m
24h Min
0.189 m
Typical Range
0.14 - 0.88
m
Highest Recorded
1.35 m
EA official record
A 1.57 reading (13 Jan 2014) sits in our unverified raw history and is not treated as the record
Current level is 14% 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.
34 storm overflows are traced upstream of this gauge, the nearest 1.1 km away along the river. 1 reports discharging now, 33 report not discharging.
Northumbrian Water · into Trib Of The River Skerne · 5.0 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.
8 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 Stapleton 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
0.40
mixed response
Avg Annual Rainfall
704 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +3% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
9.1%
partly urbanised
Median Annual Flood
21.33 m³/s
QMED — typical yearly peak flow
Highest Daily Mean Flow
42.76 m³/s
29 Mar 1979 · 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 broad-crested weir with a fish pass. Flow regime influenced by reservoir, minewaters and sewage effluent.
More detail
The catchment
Catchment underlain by highly permeable Magnesian Limestone, but nearly all the catchment overlain by superficial deposits, mainly Boulder Clay. Dominated by mixed agriculture, considerable urban development d/s in Darlington and Aycliffe. Mixed agricultural land use and significant floodplain drained fen peat (carrs) where overbank flood storage may attenuate extreme flood peaks.
The station
Compound broad-crested non-standard weir, not purpose built but unlikely to drown. On low-lying ground, formerly the floor of a boating lake, under concrete foot bridge. Fish pass with a small Crump weir constructed winter 1995/1996 - acts as an orifice at high flows. Channel rehabilitation u/s to improve aquatic habitat and maintain low flows.
How it measures flow
Often out of bank, but the overbank flow passes over the two side weirs. At the highest levels bridge soffit influences upstream level. The weir and fish pass flows are combined (from 2015), and stage and rating only applies to the weir. One peak flow rating applied across period of record. Reasonable fit to available gaugings. Flood Studies Report grade B due to catchment changes (A2 for structure).
Flow regime
Hurworth Burn reservoir (13.4 km2, 6% of catchment) in headwaters, no longer used for water supply. Pumped minewaters can augment flow, but this contribution declines over time. Excess flow from the Cocker Beck is diverted (u/s of Darlington) directly to the Tees. Significant sewage effluent component in low flows.
The flow record
Site temporarily closed from June 2007 after being vandalised. Not reinstated until 29/09/2009. Full period of record peak flow data reviewed and released in September 2019 (WINFAP Files v8).
Timing, not cause. Gauges can move together simply because the same rain fell on both.
Frequently asked questions
Is the River Skerne at South Park flooding today?
The current level is 0.19m, which is within the typical range of 0.14 to 0.88m. Flooding is unlikely at this level.
Is the river level rising or falling at South Park?
Based on the most recent readings, the level is currently steady. 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 Skerne at South Park?
The typical range at this station is 0.14m to 0.88m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 0.88m 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: