Get notified about Fairmile — tick as many as you like, they all share the notify settings below.
Alert me when (tick one or more)
⤴Unusual rise — FloodRadar+Top 1% rise rate for this gauge.
Height for "Above a height"
Drag the line on the chart, or type a value:mASD
Quick pick:
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.
Notify by (tick one or more)
Your browser will ask permission, then you'll get a notification even when FloodRadar isn't open.
On iPhone: tap Share → Add to Home Screen first, then open it from there and set the alert. Show me how
Each one is saved as its own alert — pause or remove them individually any time.
Not an emergency service — if in danger call 999. Alerts rely on
EA/SEPA/NRW data and are best-efforts. Terms
Current Level
0.338 mASD
▬ Steady
24h Max
0.349 mASD
24h Min
0.336 mASD
Typical Range
0.27 - 1.20
mASD
Highest Recorded
1.82 mASD
EA official record
1.80 in our data (since Sep 1998)
Current level is 19% 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 6 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.
1 storm overflow is traced upstream of this gauge, the nearest 10.1 km away along the river. 0 report discharging now, 1 reports not discharging.
South West Water · into Cranny Brook · 4.6 km away in a straight line · not connected to this gauge on the river map
5 spills · 22 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
4 more within 6 km whose connection is not known.
7 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 Fairmile flood history.
Flood areas linked to this gauge
Flood warnings and alerts are issued for whole areas. These are the 4 areas linked to this gauge, nearest first.
🌊 Mixed responseA balance of quick runoff and slower groundwater baseflow.
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
0.51
mixed response
Avg Annual Rainfall
980 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +2% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
0.9%
largely rural
Median Annual Flood
10.66 m³/s
QMED — typical yearly peak flow
Highest Daily Mean Flow
9.15 m³/s
21 Nov 2016 · 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.
Land Cover (2023)
Woodland 9%Grassland 59%Arable 30%Urban 2%
Grassland 65% → 59% since 1990
Photos
Gauging-station photographs from the National River Flow Archive (UKCEH).
US station installed to replace previous velocity area and EM stations.
More detail
The catchment
Upper catchment is Greensand and Gault Clay of Blackdown Hills; lower reaches are Keuper Marl. Otter Sandstone (aquifer) to the south provides regionally important groundwater supply. Rural, predominantly agricultural land use. No major catchment changes.
The station
US system installed in 05/2010 to replace problematic EM flow gauge. Original station opened in 1978 with an unstable bed control, underneath a bridge. Channel width approximately 7m. The control shifted every time a flood occurred. A new electromagnetic station 50 m downstream replaced the original station in 01/1999 (recording since 17/01/99). New EM station overcame the previous problems with the unstable bed control with a concrete block weir used as a control. Subsequently replaced by US station.
How it measures flow
Proportionally high summer flows due to groundwater augmentation from regionally important aquifer. Complex rating history, with considerable scatter in high flow gaugings. Bypassing occurs. Flows > 7 cumecs outside the range of the EM gauge, mainly in winter. Multiple ratings applied across period of record, the most recent velocity-area rating is valid until site became electromagnetic in 1999. Changes in rating a result of regular shift in station control.
Flow regime
Proportionally high summer flows due to groundwater augmentation from regionally important aquifer.
The flow record
DMFs removed from NRFA from 09/1997 to 01/99. Some flows between 09/2008 and 03/2009 considered suspect. Data prior 1999 needs to be treated with caution.
Timing, not cause. Gauges can move together simply because the same rain fell on both.
Frequently asked questions
Is the River Tale at Fairmile flooding today?
The current level is 0.34m, which is within the typical range of 0.27 to 1.20m. Flooding is unlikely at this level.
Is the river level rising or falling at Fairmile?
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 Tale at Fairmile?
The typical range at this station is 0.27m to 1.20m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 1.20m 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.
Embed this gauge on your website
Free live river-level widget — ideal for parish councils, angling clubs and local sites. Updates automatically.
Preview
📮 Flood risk by postcode near this gauge
Postcodes within 5 km with properties in the Environment Agency’s rivers-and-sea flood-risk bands:
FloodRadar
Log inCreate free account
