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⚠ No recent data · last reading 18h ago
0.10

Marham

Nar
North West Norfolk catchment • Marham • Norfolk • ID: E23705 • Level
(18h ago) • 4 readings/hr • 188 views

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Last Level
0.096 m
⚠ 18h ago · may be out of date
24h Max
0.110 m
24h Min
0.096 m
Typical Range
0.10 - 0.32
m
Highest Recorded
0.77 m
25 Feb 1969
Since Jan 1969
🚽 Sewage overflows nearby

Recent Water Levels

🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day

Recent Readings

Steady over 5h
23 Aug 05:15 ▬ steady 0.096 m
23 Aug 05:00 ▬ steady 0.096 m
23 Aug 04:45 ▬ steady 0.096 m
23 Aug 04:30 ▬ steady 0.096 m
23 Aug 04:15 ▬ steady 0.096 m
23 Aug 04:00 ▬ steady 0.096 m
23 Aug 03:45 ▬ steady 0.096 m
23 Aug 03:30 ▬ steady 0.096 m
23 Aug 03:15 ▬ steady 0.096 m
23 Aug 03:00 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.096 m
23 Aug 02:45 ▬ steady 0.097 m
23 Aug 02:30 ▬ steady 0.097 m
23 Aug 02:15 ▬ steady 0.097 m
23 Aug 02:00 ▬ steady 0.097 m
23 Aug 01:45 ▬ steady 0.097 m
23 Aug 01:30 ▬ steady 0.097 m
23 Aug 01:15 ▬ steady 0.097 m
23 Aug 01:00 ▬ steady 0.097 m
23 Aug 00:45 ▬ steady 0.097 m
23 Aug 00:30 0.097 m

Rainfall & Weather

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Flood history near this gauge

Official Environment Agency warnings issued since 2020 for the 2 flood areas linked to this gauge (nearest 6.5 km away).

4flood warnings 0flood alerts

Most recent flood warning: 22 Feb 2024River Nar at Narborough, Marham, Wormegay and Saddle Bow

Year by year
YearWarningsAlerts
2024 3 0
2020 1 0

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 Marham flood history.

Nearby Stations

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Station Details

  • Monitoring Station: Marham
  • Watercourse: River Nar
  • Nearest Town: Marham
  • County: Norfolk
  • Coordinates: 52°40'41"N 0°32'53"E (52.678061, 0.547924)
  • Open in: Google Maps · Apple Maps (opens your maps app)
  • Date Opened: 4 Oct 1979
  • Status: Active
  • Station Type: River level station
  • Station Reference: E23705
  • EA Gauge ID: E23705-level-stage-i-15_min-m
  • Parameter: Level
  • Unit: m
  • Typical rise rate: 1 cm/hr (p95 sustained over 90 days)
  • Typical data delay: ~27 min (measured reading→publication lag)
  • Tidal: No
  • Lock / structure: No
  • Catchment Area: North West Norfolk
  • Typical Range: 0.097 – 0.317 m
  • Drainage Area: 153 km² upstream of this gauge
  • Flow Data: Available (m³/s) via EA Hydrology
  • EA Cross-check: 0.10 m (EA at 23 Aug 05:15)
  • 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

🌊 Groundwater-fed Slow and steady — fed largely by groundwater, so levels change gradually, not in sudden spikes.

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
0.80
groundwater-fed — slow & steady
Avg Annual Rainfall
729 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +6% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
0.6%
largely rural
Median Annual Flood
3.62 m³/s
QMED — typical yearly peak flow
Highest Recorded Flow
7.00 m³/s
12 Feb 1977
Flow-Duration Curve
mean 1.092.410.9060.3665% (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 10%Grassland 28%Arable 60%Urban 2%
Arable 78% → 60% since 1990

Flow affected by: public water supply, groundwater abstraction, 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

Critical depth flume measuring Chalk catchment with predominantly agricultural land use.

More detail

The catchment

Chalk catchment overlain by Boulder Clay in upper reaches. Agricultural land use, predominantly arable.

The station

Round nosed horizontal crest weir (7.13m wide). Prior to April 1982, low flow flume in centre making structure 7.47m wide (now sealed off).

How it measures flow

Weed growth can be a problem during summer if not cut regularly. Level measurements taken just upstream of weir. Two peak flow ratings applied across period of record. Modular limit is estimated at 6 cumecs and is accounted for in the current rating.

Flow regime

Surface water abstraction for PWS immediately u/s of station. Also surface/groundwater abstraction in catchment for industry/agriculture. Three small underground abstractions were abandoned in 1986. Effluent returns may increase runoff.

The flow record

Anomalous summer flows in June 2004 and August 2006, resulting from locals damming the weir. Peak flows derived from flume (pre-1982) are rejected as they do not form a historically consistent record with the weir data. Full period of record peak flow data reviewed and released in October 2018 (WINFAP Files v7) and August 2025 (WINFAP 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
1953
Station datum
4.6 mAOD
Flow record
1953–2024 · 71 yrs · 100% complete
Peak-flow record
since 1953
Hydrometric area
33
Measured by
Environment Agency

Frequently asked questions

Is the River Nar at Marham flooding today?

The current level is 0.10m, which is below the typical range. Flooding is very unlikely at this level.

Is the river level rising or falling at Marham?

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 Nar at Marham?

The typical range at this station is 0.10m to 0.32m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 0.32m 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 →