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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
0.267 m
▬ Steady
24h Max
0.290 m
24h Min
0.267 m
Typical Range
0.23 - 1.30
m
Highest Recorded
2.99 m
EA official record
A 3.91 reading (16 Mar 2013) sits in our unverified raw history and is not treated as the record
Current level is 9% 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.
26 storm overflows are traced upstream of this gauge, the nearest 1.3 km away along the river. 0 report discharging now, 23 report not discharging, and for 3 the monitor is offline or has not reported, so their status is not known.
United Utilities · into River Douglas · 5.2 km away in a straight line · discharges into a tidal reach, where the water moves both ways
12 spills · 7 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
5 more within 6 km whose connection is not known.
1 other overflow within 6 km is downstream of this gauge or on another branch of the river network, so it is 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 Croston flood history.
Flood areas linked to this gauge
Flood warnings and alerts are issued for whole areas. These are the 15 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
0.46
mixed response
Avg Annual Rainfall
1,110 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +6% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
9.7%
partly urbanised
Median Annual Flood
28.81 m³/s
QMED — typical yearly peak flow
Highest Daily Mean Flow
53.54 m³/s
26 Dec 2015 · 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.
Velocity area station with old diagonal mill weir control and fish pass. Some influence of Rivington reservoirs on the flow regime.
More detail
The catchment
Geology is principally Coal Measures with subordinate Millstone Grit and Triassic sandstones. Wholly blanketed with Boulder Clay and glacial sands and gravels. Land use mostly rural with some urban area including Chorley. No significant catchment changes.
The station
Velocity area station since 1973. Control is an old diagonal mill weir, with crest 10 m wide and 3 m long.
How it measures flow
Insensitive at low flows but gives reasonable data for medium to high flows. Weir susceptible to mud build-up and erosion and capped in July 2010. Hydraulic modelling shows that bridge downstream drowns the structure at medium to high flows, causing bypassing upstream of weir at very high flows. Photographs at 0.955m show hydraulic performance (approx 0.26m below stage at which modelling suggests weir becomes drowned). No cableway, and high flow gaugings difficult with ADCP. Three ratings applied across period of record, the most recent is due to fish pass installation. Rating 05top and 6 are the same above 1.421m, so there are two peak flow ratings (03top and 05top). Eel pass installed in 2016.
Flow regime
The Rivington reservoir system captures the original Yarrow headwaters and diverts flow to River Douglas. Compensation flows to the Yarrow of 7.1 Ml/d. Also some limited spill from Upper Rivington Reservoir to the Yarrow during high flows, and reservoir discharges may affect flows at other times (e.g. January 2023). Catchment area of 74.4 km2 excludes portion now draining to Rivington reservoirs.
The flow record
Revised daily flow data from start of record (1/1976) to 12/2007 loaded on 11/08/2009 due to new medium-high flow rating: biggest effect is on the highest flows, e.g. previous max GDF on 22/08/1987 reduced from 69.1 to 36.5 cumecs. Minor effect below 8 cumecs, annual runoffs reduced slightly, typically by 1%. Full period of record peak flow data reviewed and released in September 2020 (WINFAP Files v9). Peak flow data from water year 2016/17 are rejected as unrepresentative due to the effect of the flood alleviation scheme on flows.
Timing, not cause. Gauges can move together simply because the same rain fell on both.
Frequently asked questions
Is the River Yarrow at Croston flooding today?
The current level is 0.27m, which is within the typical range of 0.23 to 1.30m. Flooding is unlikely at this level.
Is the river level rising or falling at Croston?
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.
Why is the level slowly falling?
When little or no rain has fallen for a while, a river level gradually drops as the water stored in the ground and soil drains away with nothing to replace it. This is called baseflow recession and is normal in dry spells. Only about 9.1mm of rain has fallen nearby in the last 7 days, so the flow is being sustained mainly by groundwater. A gentle decline like this is expected and is not a sign of a problem — downstream gauges often recede a little faster than headwaters further upstream, and levels recover once rain returns.
What is a normal level for the River Yarrow at Croston?
The typical range at this station is 0.23m to 1.30m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 1.30m 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:
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12 Sep 2019 Upstream view to weir
5 Dec 2008 Stage 0.955m
5 Dec 2008 Stage 0.955m
1983
1983
Weir and recorder hut looking upstream
Looking d/s to recorder hut
View from near recorder hut looking at weir and d/s