← Back
Water Level Easing
Easing — down from 0.47 at 11:45, now 0.42
0.42

Crakehill

Swale
Swale, Ure, Nidd and Upper Ouse catchment • Cundall • North Yorkshire • ID: F2302 • Level
(38m ago) • 3 readings/hr • 196 views

Set water level alerts

Get notified about Crakehill — tick as many as you like, they all share the notify settings below.

⤴ Unusual rise — FloodRadar+Top 1% rise rate for this gauge.
Drag the line on the chart, or type a value: m
Quick pick:

Each one is saved as its own alert — pause or remove them individually any time.

Not an emergency service — if in danger call 999. Alerts rely on EA/SEPA/NRW data and are best-efforts. Terms

Current Level
0.424 m
▼ Easing
24h Max
0.470 m
24h Min
0.362 m
Typical Range
0.22 - 4.90
m
Highest Recorded
5.68 m
EA official record
5.65 in our data (since May 1980)
Current level is 7% of this
🚽 Sewage overflows nearby

Recent Water Levels

🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day

Recent Readings

Falling · -4 cm over 6h
08 Oct 20:45 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.424 m
08 Oct 20:30 ▼ -0.2 cm 0.425 m
08 Oct 20:15 ▼ -0.4 cm 0.427 m
08 Oct 19:45 ▼ -0.2 cm 0.431 m
08 Oct 19:30 ▼ -0.2 cm 0.433 m
08 Oct 19:15 ▼ -0.4 cm 0.435 m
08 Oct 18:45 ▼ -0.2 cm 0.439 m
08 Oct 18:30 ▼ -0.2 cm 0.441 m
08 Oct 18:15 ▼ -0.3 cm 0.443 m
08 Oct 17:45 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.446 m
08 Oct 17:30 ▼ -0.3 cm 0.447 m
08 Oct 17:15 ▼ -0.2 cm 0.450 m
08 Oct 17:00 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.452 m
08 Oct 16:45 ▼ -0.2 cm 0.453 m
08 Oct 16:30 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.455 m
08 Oct 16:15 ▼ -0.2 cm 0.456 m
08 Oct 16:00 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.458 m
08 Oct 15:45 ▼ -0.2 cm 0.459 m
08 Oct 15:30 ▬ steady 0.461 m
08 Oct 15:15 0.461 m

Station Details

  • Monitoring Station: Crakehill
  • Watercourse: River Swale
  • Nearest Town: Cundall
  • County: North Yorkshire
  • Nearest reservoir: Lumley Moor Ire (20.3 km) · 44.6% full (as of 28 Sep 2026)
  • Coordinates: 54°9'14"N 1°21'3"W (54.153752, -1.350739)
  • Open in: Google Maps · Apple Maps (opens your maps app)
  • Date Opened: 29 May 1980
  • Status: Active
  • Station Type: River level station
Technical details: references, datum, range, flow archive
  • Station Reference: F2302
  • RLOI id: 8059 (the EA's check-for-flooding station id)
  • EA Gauge ID: F2302-level-stage-i-15_min-m
  • Parameter: Level
  • Unit: m
  • Typical rise rate: 2 cm/hr (p95 sustained over 90 days)
  • Typical data delay: ~22 min (measured reading→publication lag)
  • Tidal: No
  • Lock / structure: No
  • Catchment Area: Swale, Ure, Nidd and Upper Ouse
  • Typical Range: 0.221 – 4.900 m
  • Drainage Area: 1,363 km² upstream of this gauge
  • Flow Data: Daily mean flow (m³/s) to 9 Sep (29 days behind — the EA publishes each day's mean a day or two after it ends) via EA Hydrology
  • EA Cross-check: 0.43 m (EA at 8 Oct 20:30)
  • 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.

Nearby Stations

Gauges connected to this river, and others nearby. A distance “by river” follows the river on the map; any other is in a straight line.

Connected upstream

Connected downstream

Same river system, separate branch

Distances by river: OS Open Rivers. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database rights 2026.

💧 Storm overflows upstream of this gauge

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.

56 storm overflows are traced upstream of this gauge, the nearest 4.8 km away along the river. 2 report discharging now, 53 report not discharging, and for 1 the monitor is offline or has not reported, so their status is not known.

💧
Yorkshire Water · into Trib Of River Swale · 4.8 km upstream along the river
31 spills · 66 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Yorkshire Water · into River Swale · 12.1 km upstream along the river
10 spills · 18 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Yorkshire Water · into Cod Beck · 12.4 km upstream along the river
40 spills · 196 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Yorkshire Water · into Cod Beck · 13.5 km upstream along the river
35 spills · 63 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Yorkshire Water · into Cod Beck · 14.5 km upstream along the river
3 spills · 3 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Yorkshire Water · into Cod Beck · 14.6 km upstream along the river
7 spills · 6 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Yorkshire Water · into Cod Beck · 14.7 km upstream along the river
45 spills · 165 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Yorkshire Water · into Howe Beck · 24.4 km upstream along the river
0 spills · 0 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last

48 more further upstream, up to 80.7 km away along the river.

Also discharging now further upstream: Hackforth No. 2 STW (45.9 km), The Batts CSO (61.6 km).

Nearby, connection not known

Within 6 km in a straight line, but the river map cannot say whether their water passes this gauge.

💧
Yorkshire Water · into Unnamed Trib Of Main Goit · 2.9 km away in a straight line · no mapped watercourse close enough to be sure
4 spills · 4 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Yorkshire Water · into Unnamed Trib Of Main Goit · 3.2 km away in a straight line · no mapped watercourse close enough to be sure
59 spills · 515 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Yorkshire Water · into Culverted Trib Of Swale · 3.7 km away in a straight line · no mapped watercourse close enough to be sure
7 spills · 49 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Yorkshire Water · into Culverted Trib Birdforth Beck · 5.5 km away in a straight line · its watercourse is not on the river map
26 spills · 137 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last

2 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 →

Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database rights 2026.

Rainfall & Weather

Loading rainfall and weather data...

How often this river runs high

In a typical year this gauge reaches its typical high of 4.90 m on about 3 days. This year so far: 1 day.

2026 1 day so far
2025 1 day
2024 6 days
2023 9 days
2022 1 day
2021 2 days
2020 6 days
2019 1 day
2018 0 days
2017 0 days

Counted from each day's highest reading. Days with missing or implausible readings are left out.

Flood history near this gauge

Official Environment Agency warnings issued since 2011 for the 8 flood areas linked to this gauge (nearest 1.8 km away).

72flood warnings 0flood alerts

Most recent flood warning: 24 Jan 2024 — River Swale at Howe village and by Skipton Bridge

Year by year
YearWarningsAlerts
2024 2 0
2023 2 0
2022 2 0
2021 7 0
2020 24 0
2019 5 0
2015 19 0
2012 10 0
2011 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 Cundall flood history.

Flood areas linked to this gauge

Flood warnings and alerts are issued for whole areas. These are the 8 areas linked to this gauge, nearest first.

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
0.44
mixed response
Avg Annual Rainfall
908 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +4% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
1.3%
largely rural
Median Annual Flood
162 m³/s
QMED — typical yearly peak flow
Highest Daily Mean Flow
247 m³/s
7 Mar 1963 · daily mean, not the instantaneous peak
Flow-Duration Curve
mean 20.4168.9912.013.495% (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 5%Grassland 41%Arable 33%Heath/scrub 18%Urban 3%
Arable 38% → 33% 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

Data held against this station are a combined record for Leckby Topcliffe (27008) and Crakehill (27071). Catchment drains the North Yorkshire Dales and the Vale of York.

More detail

The catchment

Catchment drains North Yorkshire Dales, lower catchment in the flat Vale of York. Mixed geology - mainly Limestones, Sandstones (especially below Richmond) and Shales; substantial superficial deposits, predominantly Boulder Clay. Moorland and grassland in headwaters, Vale of York has substantial arable cover. No known catchment changes.

The station

Crump profile weir at Crakehill (20m width) for low-moderate flows, with high flow calibration based on u/s cableway. Gaugings done using ARC-Boat. Weir was built in a new channel to the left of the natural one, and the river diverted into it. This station superseded the velocity area station at Leckby Topcliffe (27008) 3km u/s, which suffered from heavy weed growth and closed in 1980.

How it measures flow

Weir at Crakehill often drowns before levels reach the top of the wing walls. Flood banks can be breached u/s (left and possibly the right bank); bypassing may be cause of poor agreement with check gaugings at high stages. Gauged almost to AMAX1. Three peak flow ratings across period of record, 1980-1990, 1990-2010, post 2010 to account for the change. Fish and eel pass installed late 2014, but have negligible impact on weir discharge. At Leckby Topcliffe, bypassing began at 6.15m over left bank, and rating changed in 1968 to account for downstream bank erosion.

Flow regime

Sensibly natural regime, flashy response. No known artificial influences recorded against either of the merged sites.

The flow record

Following statistical assessment of continuity, daily and peak flows held against this station are a combination of Leckby Topcliffe (27008) pre-1980 and Crakehill (27071) post-1980; POT thresholds prior to merge were 130.858 and 104 cumecs, respectively. Suspected overestimation of high flows at Leckby. Full period of record peak flow data reviewed at both sites, prior to merger, 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
Crump weir
Operating since
1955
Station datum
12.0 mAOD
Flow record
1955–2024 · 69 yrs · 100% complete
Peak-flow record
since 1980
Hydrometric area
27
Measured by
Environment Agency

Frequently asked questions

Is the River Swale at Crakehill flooding today?

The current level is 0.42m, which is within the typical range of 0.22 to 4.90m. Flooding is unlikely at this level.

Is the river level rising or falling at Crakehill?

Based on the most recent readings, the level is currently falling slightly. 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. Only about 9.2mm of rain has fallen nearby in the last 7 days, so the flow is being sustained mainly by groundwater. 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 Swale at Crakehill?

The typical range at this station is 0.22m to 4.90m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 4.90m 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.

Embed this gauge on your website

Free live river-level widget — ideal for parish councils, angling clubs and local sites. Updates automatically.

Preview

📮 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, recorded floods, warning history, river behaviour and nearby storm overflows. £19 one-off. Learn more →