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0.20

Crakehill

Swale
Swale, Ure, Nidd and Upper Ouse catchment • Cundall • North Yorkshire • ID: F2302 • Level
(42m ago) • 2 readings/hr • 127 views

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Current Level
0.202 m
▬ Steady
24h Max
0.235 m
24h Min
0.202 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 4% of this
🚽 Sewage overflows nearby

Recent Water Levels

🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day

Recent Readings

Falling · -0.4 cm over 6h
23 Aug 22:45 ▬ steady 0.202 m
23 Aug 22:30 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.202 m
23 Aug 21:15 ▬ steady 0.203 m
23 Aug 21:00 ▬ steady 0.203 m
23 Aug 20:45 ▬ steady 0.203 m
23 Aug 20:30 ▬ steady 0.204 m
23 Aug 20:15 ▬ steady 0.204 m
23 Aug 20:00 ▬ steady 0.204 m
23 Aug 19:45 ▬ steady 0.204 m
23 Aug 19:30 ▬ steady 0.204 m
23 Aug 19:15 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.204 m
23 Aug 19:00 ▬ steady 0.205 m
23 Aug 18:45 ▬ steady 0.205 m
23 Aug 18:30 ▬ steady 0.205 m
23 Aug 18:15 ▬ steady 0.205 m
23 Aug 18:00 ▬ steady 0.205 m
23 Aug 17:45 ▬ steady 0.205 m
23 Aug 17:30 ▬ steady 0.205 m
23 Aug 17:15 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.205 m
23 Aug 17:00 0.206 m

Rainfall & Weather

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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 2024River 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.

Nearby Stations

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Station Details

  • Monitoring Station: Crakehill
  • Watercourse: River Swale
  • Nearest Town: Cundall
  • County: North Yorkshire
  • Nearest reservoir: Lumley Moor Ire (20.3 km) · 51.3% full (as of 10 Aug 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
  • Station Reference: F2302
  • EA Gauge ID: F2302-level-stage-i-15_min-m
  • Parameter: Level
  • Unit: m
  • 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: Available (m³/s) via EA Hydrology
  • EA Cross-check: 0.20 m (EA at 23 Aug 22:30)
  • 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.

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 Recorded Flow
247 m³/s
7 Mar 1963
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 0.20m, which is below the typical range. Flooding is very unlikely at this level.

Is the river level rising or falling at Crakehill?

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 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 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 →