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0.89

South Wigston

Sence
Soar catchment • South Wigston • Leicestershire • ID: 4086 • Level
(31m ago) • 4 readings/hr • 141 views

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Current Level
0.888 mASD
▬ Steady
24h Max
0.911 mASD
24h Min
0.847 mASD
Typical Range
0.60 - 1.61
mASD
Highest Recorded
3.64 mASD
6 Jan 2025
Since Jan 1989
Current level is 24% of this
Current Flow
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🚽 Sewage overflows nearby

Recent Water Levels

🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day

Recent Readings

Steady over 6h
24 Aug 00:00 ▬ steady 0.888 mASD
23 Aug 23:45 ▲ +0.2 cm 0.888 mASD
23 Aug 23:30 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.886 mASD
23 Aug 23:15 ▬ steady 0.885 mASD
23 Aug 23:00 ▬ steady 0.885 mASD
23 Aug 22:45 ▼ -0.2 cm 0.885 mASD
23 Aug 21:30 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.887 mASD
23 Aug 21:15 ▼ -0.4 cm 0.886 mASD
23 Aug 21:00 ▲ +0.5 cm 0.890 mASD
23 Aug 20:45 ▼ -0.2 cm 0.885 mASD
23 Aug 20:30 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.887 mASD
23 Aug 20:15 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.888 mASD
23 Aug 20:00 ▬ steady 0.889 mASD
23 Aug 19:45 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.889 mASD
23 Aug 19:30 ▬ steady 0.890 mASD
23 Aug 19:15 ▬ steady 0.890 mASD
23 Aug 19:00 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.890 mASD
23 Aug 18:45 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.891 mASD
23 Aug 18:30 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.890 mASD
23 Aug 18:15 0.889 mASD

Rainfall & Weather

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Flood history near this gauge

Official Environment Agency warnings issued since 2006 for the 16 flood areas linked to this gauge (nearest 1.3 km away).

44flood warnings 320flood alerts

Most recent flood warning: 1 Mar 2026River Soar at Littlethorpe and Narborough

Year by year
YearWarningsAlerts
2026 13 19
2025 7 8
2024 15 24
2023 3 13
2022 0 7
2021 0 7
2020 1 15
2019 0 23
2018 0 7
2017 0 4
2016 2 11
2015 0 4
2014 0 16
2013 0 15
2012 3 14
2010 0 6
2009 0 7
2008 0 33
2007 0 64
2006 0 23

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 South Wigston flood history.

Nearby Stations

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Station Details

  • Monitoring Station: South Wigston
  • Watercourse: River Sence
  • Nearest Town: South Wigston
  • County: Leicestershire
  • Nearest reservoir: Cropston (13.6 km) · 35.8% full (as of 17 Aug 2026)
  • Coordinates: 52°34'26"N 1°8'4"W (52.573856, -1.134530)
  • Open in: Google Maps · Apple Maps (opens your maps app)
  • Date Opened: 1 Aug 1971
  • Status: Active
  • Station Type: River level station
  • Station Reference: 4086
  • EA Gauge ID: 4086-level-stage-i-15_min-mASD
  • Parameter: Level
  • Unit: mASD
  • Typical rise rate: 4 cm/hr (p95 sustained over 90 days)
  • Typical data delay: ~22 min (measured reading→publication lag)
  • Tidal: No
  • Lock / structure: No
  • Catchment Area: Soar
  • Typical Range: 0.600 – 1.607 mASD
  • Drainage Area: 113 km² upstream of this gauge
  • Flow Data: Available (m³/s) via EA Hydrology
  • EA Cross-check: 0.89 mASD (EA at 23 Aug 23:45)
  • 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.

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
0.36
mixed response
Avg Annual Rainfall
697 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +5% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
3.5%
partly urbanised
Median Annual Flood
21.39 m³/s
QMED — typical yearly peak flow
Highest Recorded Flow
33.37 m³/s
2 Jan 2024
Flow-Duration Curve
mean 0.9693.720.4030.1335% (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 2%Grassland 46%Arable 43%Urban 10%
Grassland 51% → 46% since 1990

Flow affected by: 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

LaserFlow Index Velocity gauge post-2017. Previously Electromagnetic gauge set in 1:1 formalised banks. Replaces Blaby (28054), daily flow records combined, but not peak flows.

More detail

The catchment

Moderate to low relief catchment to East and South of Leicester. Mainly Lower Lias (mudstones and limestone) but wholly blanketed by Boulder Clay and alluvium except for headwaters. Urbanised downstream end, otherwise arable and grazing land use.

The station

LaserFlow ultrasonic gauge under Crow Mill bridge from 2017 onwards. Early record from electromagnetic flow gauge just downstream of bridge.

How it measures flow

No bypassing - all flows contained. In 2002 the electromagnetic flows were out by 10% - a new coil/cable was installed in March 2002. Missing data July-December 2016 due to electromagnetic gauge failure. Gauge replaced with LaserFlow index velocity gauge in January 2017.

Flow regime

Moderately responsive. Substantially augmented by WRW discharges, particularly Wigston.

The flow record

Flow contained at high flows and fully measured. Early peak flow data are of poor quality, and are therefore rejected. Accuracy of electromagnetic gauge poor from 2006 until replacement in 2017. Full period of record peak flow data reviewed and released in August 2025 (WINFAP Files v14).

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
1983
Station datum
66.5 mAOD
Flow record
1971–2024 · 53 yrs · 99% complete
Peak-flow record
since 1983
Hydrometric area
28
Measured by
Environment Agency

Frequently asked questions

Is the River Sence at South Wigston flooding today?

The current level is 0.89m, which is within the typical range of 0.60 to 1.61m. Flooding is unlikely at this level.

Is the river level rising or falling at South Wigston?

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 Sence at South Wigston?

The typical range at this station is 0.60m to 1.61m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 1.61m 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 →