This gauge is tidally influenced — levels rise and fall with each tide, so rapid changes here
are normal and don't necessarily indicate flooding.
⚙ Tidally influenced - confirmed by cross-correlation with a nearby tide gauge (auto-classifier missed it). Excluded from rising-rivers rankings and the prediction models.
(51m ago) • 4 readings/hr • 228 views
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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
2.142 mAOD
▼ Falling (-10cm/hr)
24h Max
4.026 mAOD
24h Min
1.785 mAOD
Typical Range
0.84 - 6.10
mAOD
Highest Recorded
7.92 mAOD
EA official record
7.92 in our data (since Mar 1996)
🚽Sewage overflows nearby
Recent Water Levels
🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day
EA forecast (official)
Flood predictions aren't generated for
tidal gauges —
their levels are driven by the tide,
not by catchment rainfall, so the forecast models would have no skill here.
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.
291 storm overflows are traced upstream of this gauge, the nearest 10.7 km away along the river. 0 report discharging now, 276 report not discharging, and for 15 the monitor is offline or has not reported, so their status is not known.
Yorkshire Water · into River Ouse (Tidal) · 3.4 km away in a straight line · discharges to the sea, an estuary or tidal water
113 spills · 1,879 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
3 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 →
In a typical year this gauge reaches its typical high of 6.10 m
on about 11 days.
This year so far: 1 day.
20261 day so far
20254 days
202415 days, 6 of them high · 6 high
202318 days, 8 of them high · 8 high
20225 days, 3 of them high · 3 high
202115 days, 6 of them high · 6 high
202026 days, 13 of them high · 13 high
20198 days
20185 days, 1 of them high · 1 high
20170 days
Counted from each day's highest reading. Days with missing or implausible readings are left out.
The darker part is days above 6.90 m, the level this gauge tops only a few days a year.
Flood history near this gauge
Official Environment Agency warnings issued since 2011 for the 20 flood
areas linked to this gauge (nearest 0.3 km away).
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 Cawood flood history.
Flood areas linked to this gauge
Flood warnings and alerts are issued for whole areas. These are the 20 areas linked to this gauge, nearest first.
The current level is 2.14m, which is within the typical range of 0.84 to 6.10m. Flooding is unlikely at this level.
Is the river level rising or falling at Cawood?
Based on the most recent readings, the level is currently falling. 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. 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 Ouse at Cawood?
The typical range at this station is 0.84m to 6.10m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 6.10m 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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