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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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EA/SEPA/NRW data and are best-efforts. Terms
Current Level
0.143 m
▬ Steady
24h Max
0.188 m
24h Min
0.143 m
Typical Range
0.11 - 2.10
m
Highest Recorded
3.66 m
EA official record
3.56 in our data (since Dec 1976)
Current level is 4% 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.
9 storm overflows are traced upstream of this gauge, the nearest 2.3 km away along the river. 0 report discharging now, 9 report not discharging.
Yorkshire Water · into Unnamed Trib Of Nidd · 5.6 km away in a straight line · no mapped watercourse close enough to be sure
11 spills · 27 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
8 other overflows within 6 km are downstream of this gauge or on another branch of the river network, so they are 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 Birstwith flood history.
Flood areas linked to this gauge
Flood warnings and alerts are issued for whole areas. These are the 7 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
0.36
mixed response
Avg Annual Rainfall
1,323 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +10% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
0.4%
largely rural
Median Annual Flood
99.11 m³/s
QMED — typical yearly peak flow
Highest Daily Mean Flow
121 m³/s
20 Feb 2022 · 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 a riffle control downstream. Catchment heavily reservoired.
More detail
The catchment
Geology: mostly Millstone Grit, Sandstones and Shales, with some small inliers of Carboniferous Limestone in Upper Nidderdale. An east-west fault runs along the line of the river. Rural catchment, predominantly grassland, moorland headwaters. No known catchment changes.
The station
Velocity area station approximately 17m wide. Riffle control 50m d/s, may be subject to erosion as the bed is rocky and unstable.
How it measures flow
Level measurement began with a pressure recorder, then updated to a float well when the hut was constructed in Nov 1976. There is some suspicion that a downstream gravel shoal has moved, possibly on more than one occasion, altering the stage-discharge relationship. Rated by current meter from the bridge at the gauging section (September 2012). Daily flow rating revised in 1999 to account for a change in channel dimensions caused by the 1991 flood. Rating reviewed again in 2014 producing two new ratings pre and post 2009 flood event. Four peak flow ratings across the period of record. Station will need regular re-rating due to shifting control. Good fit to available gaugings though only two above QMED.
Flow regime
Heavily reservoired catchment. Some losses to public water supply from Angram / Scar House reservoirs. Gouthwaite compensation reservoir has a substantial effect on flows and is used to maintain dry weather flows.
The flow record
Daily flows reworked after a flood in 1991 changed channel dimensions. Full period of record peak flow data reviewed and released in October 2018 (WINFAP Files v7).
Timing, not cause. Gauges can move together simply because the same rain fell on both.
Frequently asked questions
Is the River Nidd at Birstwith flooding today?
The current level is 0.14m, which is within the typical range of 0.11 to 2.10m. Flooding is unlikely at this level.
Is the river level rising or falling at Birstwith?
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.
What is a normal level for the River Nidd at Birstwith?
The typical range at this station is 0.11m to 2.10m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 2.10m 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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21 Feb 2007 View downstream from right bank
21 Feb 2007 Looking downstream towards gaugeboards on right bank
21 Feb 2007 View across control section under road bridge
21 Feb 2007 General view of gauging section
21 Feb 2007 Looking towards instrument building on right bank
21 Feb 2007 View of upstream channel from gauge section
