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0.19

South Park

Skerne
Tees catchment • Stapleton • Darlington • ID: F3702 • Level
(26m ago) • 3 readings/hr • 120 views

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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

Recent Readings

Steady over 6h
10 Oct 11:00 ▼ -0.5 cm 0.190 m
10 Oct 10:45 ▲ +0.3 cm 0.195 m
10 Oct 10:15 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.192 m
10 Oct 10:00 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.193 m
10 Oct 09:45 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.192 m
10 Oct 09:30 ▬ steady 0.191 m
10 Oct 09:15 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.191 m
10 Oct 09:00 ▬ steady 0.192 m
10 Oct 08:45 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.192 m
10 Oct 08:30 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.191 m
10 Oct 08:00 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.190 m
10 Oct 07:45 ▬ steady 0.191 m
10 Oct 07:30 ▬ steady 0.191 m
10 Oct 07:15 ▬ steady 0.191 m
10 Oct 06:45 ▬ steady 0.191 m
10 Oct 06:30 ▬ steady 0.191 m
10 Oct 06:15 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.191 m
10 Oct 05:45 ▬ steady 0.190 m
10 Oct 05:30 ▬ steady 0.190 m
10 Oct 05:15 0.190 m

Station Details

  • Monitoring Station: South Park
  • Watercourse: River Skerne
  • Nearest Town: Stapleton
  • County: Darlington
  • Coordinates: 54°30'38"N 1°33'46"W (54.510602, -1.562870)
  • Open in: Google Maps · Apple Maps (opens your maps app)
  • Date Opened: 1 Oct 1956
  • Status: Active
  • Station Type: River level station
Technical details: references, datum, range, flow archive
  • Station Reference: F3702
  • RLOI id: 8190 (the EA's check-for-flooding station id)
  • EA Gauge ID: F3702-level-stage-i-15_min-m
  • Parameter: Level
  • Unit: m
  • Typical rise rate: 2 cm/hr (p95 sustained over 90 days)
  • Typical data delay: ~22 min (measured reading→publication lag)
  • Tidal: No
  • Lock / structure: No
  • Catchment Area: Tees
  • Typical Range: 0.142 – 0.880 m
  • Drainage Area: 250 km² upstream of this gauge
  • 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
  • EA Cross-check: 0.20 m (EA at 10 Oct 10:45)
  • 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 upstream

Connected downstream

Same river system, separate branch

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

💧 Storm overflows upstream of this gauge

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 River Skerne · 1.1 km upstream along the river
11 spills · 46 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Northumbrian Water · into Skerne · 1.1 km upstream along the river
3 spills · 1 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Northumbrian Water · into River Skerne · 1.5 km upstream along the river
2 spills · 1 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Northumbrian Water · into River Skerne · 1.6 km upstream along the river
4 spills · 1 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Northumbrian Water · into River Skerne · 1.6 km upstream along the river
3 spills · 1 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Northumbrian Water · into River Skerne · 1.6 km upstream along the river
29 spills · 30 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Northumbrian Water · into River Skerne · 1.6 km upstream along the river
6 spills · 3 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Northumbrian Water · into River Skerne · 1.6 km upstream along the river
3 spills · 1 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last

26 more further upstream, up to 45.4 km away along the river.

Also discharging now further upstream: Stephenson Way SPS (18.8 km).

Nearby, connection not known

Within 6 km in a straight line, but the river map cannot say whether their water passes this gauge.

💧
Northumbrian Water · into River Skerne · 40 m away in a straight line · too close to the gauge to say which side
30 spills · 150 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Northumbrian Water · into Tees Tributary · 2.2 km away in a straight line · no mapped watercourse close enough to be sure
7 spills · 19 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Northumbrian Water · into Cree Beck · 2.3 km away in a straight line · its watercourse is not on the river map
6 spills · 29 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Northumbrian Water · into Cree Beck Tees Catchment · 2.3 km away in a straight line · its watercourse is not on the river map
1 spill · 0 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Northumbrian Water · into Cree Beck Into Kent Beck · 2.3 km away in a straight line · its watercourse is not on the river map
5 spills · 20 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Northumbrian Water · into Skerne, Tributary Of · 5.0 km away in a straight line · no mapped watercourse close enough to be sure
9 spills · 23 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Northumbrian Water · into River Tees · 5.0 km away in a straight line · no mapped watercourse close enough to be sure
3 spills · 1 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
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 →

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 0.88 m on about 1 day. This year so far: 0 days.

2026 0 days so far
2025 1 day
2024 1 day
2023 3 days
2022 1 day
2021 3 days
2020 1 day
2019 0 days
2018 2 days
2017 0 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 2011 for the 8 flood areas linked to this gauge (nearest 1.6 km away).

12flood warnings 0flood alerts

Most recent flood warning: 9 Feb 2020 — River Tees at Croft

Year by year
YearWarningsAlerts
2020 3 0
2015 5 0
2012 2 0
2011 2 0

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.

Catchment Character

🌊 Fairly flashy Responds 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
mean 1.645.390.9380.3945% (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 4%Grassland 35%Arable 43%Urban 16%Other 1%
Arable 56% → 43% since 1990

Flow affected by: groundwater abstraction, effluent returns, industrial / agricultural abstraction.

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

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).

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
1956
Station datum
34.1 mAOD
Flow record
1956–2024 · 68 yrs · 96% complete
Peak-flow record
since 1956
Hydrometric area
25
Measured by
Environment Agency

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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Free live river-level widget — ideal for parish councils, angling clubs and local sites. Updates automatically.

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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 →