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0.01

Woolsington

Ouse Burn
Tyne catchment • Woolsington • North East • ID: 023018 • Level
(35m ago) • 3 readings/hr • 152 views

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Current Level
0.013 m
▬ Steady
24h Max
0.017 m
24h Min
0.013 m
Typical Range
0.03 - 1.30
m
Highest Recorded
1.70 m
6 Sep 2008
Since Oct 1983
Current level is 1% of this
🚽 Sewage overflows nearby

Recent Water Levels

🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day

Recent Readings

Steady over 6h
23 Aug 23:15 ▬ steady 0.013 m
23 Aug 23:00 ▬ steady 0.013 m
23 Aug 22:45 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.013 m
23 Aug 21:30 ▬ steady 0.014 m
23 Aug 21:15 ▬ steady 0.014 m
23 Aug 21:00 ▬ steady 0.014 m
23 Aug 20:45 ▬ steady 0.014 m
23 Aug 20:30 ▬ steady 0.014 m
23 Aug 20:15 ▬ steady 0.014 m
23 Aug 20:00 ▬ steady 0.014 m
23 Aug 19:45 ▬ steady 0.014 m
23 Aug 19:30 ▬ steady 0.014 m
23 Aug 19:15 ▬ steady 0.014 m
23 Aug 19:00 ▬ steady 0.014 m
23 Aug 18:45 ▬ steady 0.014 m
23 Aug 18:30 ▬ steady 0.015 m
23 Aug 18:15 ▬ steady 0.015 m
23 Aug 18:00 ▬ steady 0.015 m
23 Aug 17:45 ▬ steady 0.015 m
23 Aug 17:30 0.015 m

Rainfall & Weather

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Flood history near this gauge

Official Environment Agency warnings issued since 2010 for the 13 flood areas linked to this gauge (nearest 1.8 km away).

8flood warnings 60flood alerts

Most recent flood warning: 8 Apr 2024Tyne estuary at Derwenthaugh

Year by year
YearWarningsAlerts
2026 0 1
2024 1 3
2023 1 8
2022 0 2
2021 0 6
2020 0 1
2019 0 6
2018 0 1
2017 0 1
2016 1 4
2015 0 2
2013 0 8
2012 5 13
2011 0 3
2010 0 1

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 Woolsington flood history.

Nearby Stations

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Station Details

  • Monitoring Station: Woolsington
  • Watercourse: Ouse Burn
  • Nearest Town: Woolsington
  • County: North East
  • Nearest reservoir: Whittle Dene (13.0 km) · 71.0% full (as of 28 Dec 2025)
  • Coordinates: 55°1'24"N 1°41'53"W (55.023247, -1.698085)
  • Open in: Google Maps · Apple Maps (opens your maps app)
  • Date Opened: 1 Jan 1983
  • Status: Active
  • Station Type: River level station
  • Station Reference: 023018
  • EA Gauge ID: 023018-level-stage-i-15_min-m
  • Parameter: Level
  • Unit: m
  • Typical rise rate: 8 cm/hr (p95 sustained over 90 days)
  • Typical data delay: ~22 min (measured reading→publication lag)
  • Tidal: No
  • Lock / structure: No
  • Catchment Area: Tyne
  • Typical Range: 0.031 – 1.300 m
  • Drainage Area: 9.0 km² upstream of this gauge
  • Flow Data: Available (m³/s) via EA Hydrology
  • EA Cross-check: 0.01 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

🌊 Flashy Rain runs off fast — levels rise and fall sharply, often within hours of heavy rain.

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
0.31
flashy — rain runs off fast
Avg Annual Rainfall
691 mm/yr
1991–2020 · -1% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
10%
partly urbanised
Median Annual Flood
3.31 m³/s
QMED — typical yearly peak flow
Highest Recorded Flow
5.08 m³/s
6 Sep 2008
Flow-Duration Curve
mean 0.0740.2830.0280.0035% (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 3%Grassland 32%Arable 49%Urban 17%
Arable 62% → 49% since 1990

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

Informal flat-V weir with ultrasonics between 2001 and 2007.

More detail

The catchment

Small (9 sq.km), relatively low-lying catchment on moderate permeability bedrock, but with significant Boulder Clay cover. Predominantly arable with some grassland and around a tenth of built-up area. No known catchment changes.

The station

Informal flat-V weir (3m wide). Station moved after the building of the Metro underground line and supplemented in October 2001 by ultrasonic measuring equipment (removed 2007).

How it measures flow

Structure drowns at moderate flows and wing walls overtopped 2-5 times per year. Ultrasonic installed in 2001 to calibrate peak flows (removed 2007). Ultrasonic equipment produces good record with no drop-outs. Analysis of uncertainties in the ultrasonic rating calculation suggests the lower and upper bounds for QMAX are -17% and +44% at this site. Three peak flow ratings applied across period of record. Rating pre-1991 (before Metro line built) established from current metering. Post 1991 rating derived from ultrasonic data and refined in June 2003 to align with more recent high flow gaugings. Current rating (from June 2003) is a composite: theoretical weir equation used below 0.34m and ultrasonic data from 2003-07 plus check gaugings used to derive the rating at higher levels. There is uncertainty regarding the modular limit of the structure, possibly due to weed/vegetation growth downstream and there are few high flow gaugings.

Flow regime

Responsive natural regime with no known artificial influences.

The flow record

Full period of record peak flow data reviewed and released in October 2018 (WINFAP Files v7).

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
1991
Station datum
63.4 mAOD
Flow record
1983–2024 · 41 yrs · 90% complete
Peak-flow record
since 1973
Hydrometric area
23
Measured by
Environment Agency

Frequently asked questions

Is the Ouse Burn at Woolsington flooding today?

The current level is 0.01m, which is below the typical range. Flooding is very unlikely at this level.

Is the river level rising or falling at Woolsington?

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 Ouse Burn at Woolsington?

The typical range at this station is 0.03m 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 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:

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 →