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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
0.334 m
▬ Steady
24h Max
0.342 m
24h Min
0.331 m
Typical Range
0.27 - 1.20
m
Highest Recorded
1.82 m
EA official record
1.80 in our data (since Sep 1998)
Current level is 18% of this
🚽Sewage overflows nearby
Recent Water Levels
🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day
Prediction V2
Prediction Eris
Nimbus beta
Experimental model fusing soil moisture, river flow, groundwater and catchment
character. Shown with its calibrated 10–90% confidence band. 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.
Long Term
🌍 floodradar.co.uk
—
Consecutive rainy days0 → 10+
Days Above Normal
This year vs 5-year monthly range
Recent Readings
Rising · +0.2 cm over 6h
24 Aug 00:15▲ +0.1 cm0.334 m
24 Aug 00:00▬ steady0.333 m
23 Aug 23:45▬ steady0.333 m
23 Aug 23:30▬ steady0.333 m
23 Aug 23:15▬ steady0.333 m
23 Aug 23:00▬ steady0.333 m
23 Aug 22:45▬ steady0.333 m
23 Aug 21:30▼ -0.1 cm0.333 m
23 Aug 21:15▬ steady0.334 m
23 Aug 21:00▲ +0.1 cm0.334 m
23 Aug 20:45▬ steady0.333 m
23 Aug 20:30▲ +0.1 cm0.333 m
23 Aug 20:15▬ steady0.332 m
23 Aug 20:00▬ steady0.332 m
23 Aug 19:45▬ steady0.332 m
23 Aug 19:30▬ steady0.332 m
23 Aug 19:15▬ steady0.332 m
23 Aug 19:00▬ steady0.332 m
23 Aug 18:45▬ steady0.332 m
23 Aug 18:300.332 m
Rainfall & Weather
Loading rainfall and weather data...
Flood history near this gauge
Official Environment Agency warnings issued since 2008 for the 4 flood
areas linked to this gauge (nearest 1.9 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 Fairmile flood history.
Geographic coordinates may reflect the access point for the gauge, and not the precise location in the watercourse that it is taking readings from.
Catchment Character
🌊 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 Recorded Flow
9.15 m³/s
21 Nov 2016
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.
How this gauging station is built and how long it has measured (NRFA / UKCEH).
Gauge type
Ultrasonic
Operating since
1978
Station datum
48.2 mAOD
Flow record
1978–2024 · 46 yrs · 96% complete
Peak-flow record
since 1978
Hydrometric area
45
Measured by
Environment Agency
Nearby Groundwater
Soil Moisture
Possible storm-overflow correlation
🚽 Storm overflows on this river
Frequently asked questions
Is the River Tale at Fairmile flooding today?
The current level is 0.33m, 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 7 days of measurements, 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 taken by the Environment Agency gauge roughly every 15 minutes and FloodRadar refreshes its data continuously, so the level shown is normally less than an hour old.
Embed this gauge on your website
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:
