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0.32

Caton

Lune
Lune and Wyre catchment • Caton • Lancashire • ID: 724629 • Level
(32m ago) • 3 readings/hr • 183 views

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Current Level
0.319 m
▬ Steady
24h Max
0.373 m
24h Min
0.319 m
Typical Range
0.28 - 3.60
m
Highest Recorded
8.17 m
5 Dec 2015
Since Jan 1979
Current level is 4% of this
🚽 Sewage overflows nearby

Recent Water Levels

🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day

Recent Readings

Falling · -2 cm over 6h
23 Aug 23:15 ▬ steady 0.319 m
23 Aug 23:00 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.319 m
23 Aug 22:45 ▼ -0.2 cm 0.320 m
23 Aug 21:30 ▬ steady 0.322 m
23 Aug 21:15 ▬ steady 0.322 m
23 Aug 21:00 ▼ -0.2 cm 0.322 m
23 Aug 20:45 ▬ steady 0.324 m
23 Aug 20:30 ▬ steady 0.324 m
23 Aug 20:15 ▼ -0.2 cm 0.324 m
23 Aug 20:00 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.326 m
23 Aug 19:45 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.327 m
23 Aug 19:30 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.328 m
23 Aug 19:15 ▬ steady 0.329 m
23 Aug 19:00 ▼ -0.2 cm 0.329 m
23 Aug 18:45 ▬ steady 0.331 m
23 Aug 18:30 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.331 m
23 Aug 18:15 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.332 m
23 Aug 18:00 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.333 m
23 Aug 17:45 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.334 m
23 Aug 17:30 0.335 m

Rainfall & Weather

Loading rainfall and weather data...

Flood history near this gauge

Official Environment Agency warnings issued since 2006 for the 24 flood areas linked to this gauge (nearest 1.0 km away).

52flood warnings 139flood alerts

Most recent flood warning: 24 Mar 2026Burrow Beck at Lancaster, between Newlands Ave, Lentworth Drive and Whinfell Drive

Year by year
YearWarningsAlerts
2026 5 3
2025 3 9
2024 2 11
2023 0 7
2022 0 3
2021 0 6
2020 15 9
2019 0 9
2018 3 4
2017 4 5
2016 2 3
2015 6 9
2014 6 9
2013 1 4
2012 4 9
2011 1 7
2010 0 4
2009 0 5
2008 0 5
2007 0 7
2006 0 11

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 Caton flood history.

Nearby Stations

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Station Details

  • Monitoring Station: Caton
  • Watercourse: River Lune
  • Nearest Town: Caton
  • County: Lancashire
  • Coordinates: 54°4'53"N 2°43'19"W (54.081344, -2.722026)
  • Open in: Google Maps · Apple Maps (opens your maps app)
  • Date Opened: 1 Jan 1978
  • Status: Active
  • Station Type: River level station
  • Station Reference: 724629
  • EA Gauge ID: 724629-level-stage-i-15_min-m
  • Parameter: Level
  • Unit: m
  • Typical rise rate: 9 cm/hr (p95 sustained over 90 days)
  • Typical data delay: ~22 min (measured reading→publication lag)
  • Tidal: No
  • Lock / structure: No
  • Catchment Area: Lune and Wyre
  • Typical Range: 0.280 – 3.600 m
  • Drainage Area: 983 km² upstream of this gauge
  • Flow Data: Available (m³/s) via EA Hydrology
  • EA Cross-check: 0.32 m (EA at 23 Aug 23:15)
  • 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.

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
1,633 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +7% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
0.4%
largely rural
Median Annual Flood
738 m³/s
QMED — typical yearly peak flow
Highest Recorded Flow
1,440 m³/s
5 Dec 2015
Flow-Duration Curve
mean 37.1413318.103.305% (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 79%Arable 1%Heath/scrub 15%Urban 1%Other 1%

Flow affected by: surface-water abstraction, reservoir influence, public water supply.

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. Early record contains data from two sites (measuring high and low flows). Some influences on low flows due to transfers and abstractions.

More detail

The catchment

Headwaters rise from Shap Fell and the Pennines. Mixed geology with Carboniferous Limestone; Silurian shales; Millstone Grit and Coal Measures. Substantial Drift cover. Agriculture in valleys; grassland with peat moss in highest areas. No significant catchment changes.

The station

Compound broad-crested weir. Station opened in 1968 to measure low flows, with Halton 3 km downstream measuring high flows. On closure of Halton in 1985, Caton became a full-range station and the records were combined.

How it measures flow

The cableway downstream at Halton was used to gauge higher flows until severely damaged in the January 1995 event. One peak flow rating across period of record based on gaugings, extrapolated using a hydraulic model to allow for floodplain flow. The highest gauging on record (at Halton) is a rough estimate (based on gauging across half the river before the gauging hut had to be evacuated).

Flow regime

Transfers to River Wyre under Lancashire Conjunctive Use Scheme (LCUS). Major abstractions for public water supply.

The flow record

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
1959
Station datum
10.7 mAOD
Flow record
1959–2024 · 65 yrs · 97% complete
Peak-flow record
since 1968
Hydrometric area
72
Measured by
Environment Agency

Frequently asked questions

Is the River Lune at Caton flooding today?

The current level is 0.32m, which is within the typical range of 0.28 to 3.60m. Flooding is unlikely at this level.

Is the river level rising or falling at Caton?

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 Lune at Caton?

The typical range at this station is 0.28m to 3.60m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 3.60m 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.

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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, floods since 1946, warning history, river behaviour and nearby storm overflows. £19 one-off. Learn more →