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Water Level Easing
Easing — down from 0.54 at 16:00, now 0.46
0.46

Kildwick

Aire
Aire and Calder catchment • Kildwick • North Yorkshire • ID: F1503 • Level
(1h ago) • 4 readings/hr • 177 views

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Current Level
0.460 m
▼ Easing
24h Max
0.635 m
24h Min
0.410 m
Typical Range
0.19 - 1.60
m
Highest Recorded
4.22 m
EA official record
A 5.62 reading (2 Dec 1966) sits in our unverified raw history and is not treated as the record
Current level is 11% of this
🚽 Sewage overflows nearby

Recent Water Levels

🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day

Recent Readings

Falling · -5 cm over 6h
08 Oct 01:30 ▼ -0.2 cm 0.460 m
08 Oct 01:15 ▼ -0.2 cm 0.462 m
08 Oct 01:00 ▼ -0.3 cm 0.464 m
08 Oct 00:45 ▼ -0.2 cm 0.467 m
08 Oct 00:30 ▼ -0.3 cm 0.469 m
08 Oct 00:15 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.472 m
08 Oct 00:00 ▼ -0.2 cm 0.473 m
07 Oct 23:45 ▼ -0.3 cm 0.475 m
07 Oct 23:30 ▼ -0.9 cm 0.478 m
07 Oct 22:30 ▼ -0.3 cm 0.487 m
07 Oct 22:15 ▼ -0.2 cm 0.490 m
07 Oct 22:00 ▼ -0.4 cm 0.492 m
07 Oct 21:45 ▬ steady 0.496 m
07 Oct 21:30 ▼ -0.3 cm 0.496 m
07 Oct 21:15 ▼ -0.2 cm 0.499 m
07 Oct 21:00 ▼ -0.3 cm 0.501 m
07 Oct 20:45 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.504 m
07 Oct 20:30 ▼ -0.4 cm 0.505 m
07 Oct 20:15 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.509 m
07 Oct 20:00 0.510 m

Station Details

  • Monitoring Station: Kildwick
  • Watercourse: River Aire
  • Nearest Town: Kildwick
  • County: North Yorkshire
  • Nearest reservoir: Whinny Gill Ire (5.5 km) · 92.5% full (as of 28 Sep 2026)
  • Coordinates: 53°54'27"N 1°59'5"W (53.907443, -1.984735)
  • Open in: Google Maps · Apple Maps (opens your maps app)
  • Date Opened: 1 Jan 1970
  • Status: Active
  • Station Type: River level station
Technical details: references, datum, range, flow archive
  • Station Reference: F1503
  • RLOI id: 8112 (the EA's check-for-flooding station id)
  • EA Gauge ID: F1503-level-stage-i-15_min-m
  • Parameter: Level
  • Unit: m
  • Typical rise rate: 3 cm/hr (p95 sustained over 90 days)
  • Typical data delay: ~22 min (measured reading→publication lag)
  • Tidal: No
  • Lock / structure: No
  • Catchment Area: Aire and Calder
  • Typical Range: 0.194 – 1.600 m
  • Drainage Area: 282 km² upstream of this gauge
  • 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
  • EA Cross-check: 0.46 m (EA at 8 Oct 01:45)
  • 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.

21 storm overflows are traced upstream of this gauge, the nearest 3.0 km away along the river. 0 report discharging now, 19 report not discharging, and for 2 the monitor is offline or has not reported, so their status is not known.

💧
Yorkshire Water · into River Aire · 3.0 km upstream along the river
60 spills · 179 hours in 2025
No live feed for this overflow
💧
Yorkshire Water · into Laithehouse Beck · 5.1 km upstream along the river
33 spills · 52 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Yorkshire Water · into Middle Beck · 5.9 km upstream along the river
0 spills · 0 hours in 2025
Monitor offline: it cannot say whether it is discharging
💧
Yorkshire Water · into River Aire · 7.2 km upstream along the river
62 spills · 638 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Yorkshire Water · into River Aire · 7.2 km upstream along the river
111 spills · 696 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Yorkshire Water · into Eller Beck · 8.4 km upstream along the river
49 spills · 190 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Yorkshire Water · into Waller Hill Beck · 9.1 km upstream along the river
65 spills · 165 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Yorkshire Water · into Eller Beck · 9.5 km upstream along the river
0 spills · 0 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last

13 more further upstream, up to 28.8 km away along the river.

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 Soakaway · 310 m away in a straight line · discharges to ground
43 spills · 44 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Yorkshire Water · into Clvrt Tributary Of River Aire · 530 m away in a straight line · no mapped watercourse close enough to be sure
34 spills · 83 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Yorkshire Water · into Tributary Of Holme Beck · 1.1 km away in a straight line · no mapped watercourse close enough to be sure
8 spills · 6 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Yorkshire Water · into Mill Stream · 1.1 km away in a straight line · no mapped watercourse close enough to be sure
59 spills · 221 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last

14 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 1.60 m on about 19 days. This year so far: 1 day.

2026 1 day so far
2025 13 days, 3 of them high · 3 high
2024 22 days, 6 of them high · 6 high
2023 33 days, 8 of them high · 8 high
2022 13 days, 2 of them high · 2 high
2021 17 days, 4 of them high · 4 high
2020 32 days, 13 of them high · 13 high
2019 18 days, 7 of them high · 7 high
2018 10 days
2017 12 days

Counted from each day's highest reading. Days with missing or implausible readings are left out. The darker part is days above 2.21 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 26 flood areas linked to this gauge (nearest 0.1 km away).

67flood warnings 272flood alerts

Most recent flood warning: 1 Jan 2025 — Cononley Beck at Cononley

Year by year
YearWarningsAlerts
2026 0 2
2025 5 6
2024 3 17
2023 0 20
2022 6 13
2021 4 21
2020 14 24
2019 1 26
2018 0 12
2017 0 23
2016 0 16
2015 30 36
2014 0 13
2013 0 10
2012 4 28
2011 0 5

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 Kildwick flood history.

Flood areas linked to this gauge

Flood warnings and alerts are issued for whole areas. These are the 26 areas linked to this gauge, nearest first.

Show 18 more

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
0.39
mixed response
Avg Annual Rainfall
1,221 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +8% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
1.9%
largely rural
Median Annual Flood
58.03 m³/s
QMED — typical yearly peak flow
Highest Daily Mean Flow
137 m³/s
26 Dec 2015 · daily mean, not the instantaneous peak
Flow-Duration Curve
mean 6.7425.763.160.6585% (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 4%Grassland 80%Arable 1%Heath/scrub 11%Urban 3%Other 1%

Flow affected by: surface-water abstraction.

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

Velocity area station gauging a predominantly rural catchment with light urbanisation in Skipton.

More detail

The catchment

Geology: mainly Carboniferous Limestone with some Millstone Grit series, with extensive Boulder Clay cover. Rural catchment, over three-quarters grassland, draining the eastern Pennines. The catchment headwaters are undeveloped with moorland. Land use consists of upland rough grazing, and pasture and light urbanisation in the valley bottoms (Skipton is the largest town). No known significant catchment changes.

The station

Velocity area station situated in 21m wide channel d/s of a bend in the river and u/s of the old, arched Kildwick Bridge. Station provides full range flows.

How it measures flow

Bridge arches form the primary hydraulic control at all levels. Flow is through between one (9.5m wide) and four (29.5m combined width) of the arches depending on level. Flow begins to surcharge the arches at different levels. The bridge sills provide the low flow control; arch soffits partial control at high flows but also influenced by downstream channel control. The road bridge and steep grassy banks prevent bypassing, all but the highest discharges are contained. Flood Studies Report was graded Z in 1975. One peak flow rating applied across period of record. Increasing scatter in gaugings beyond 1m stage. Gauged to more than 1.5 x QMED and to 87% of AMAX3. Check gaugings are done at a cableway around 100m downstream of the bridge.

Flow regime

Between Skipton and Kildwick, there are considerable areas of washlands, which fill during floods and attenuate downstream flows. Abstraction for supply is made from reservoirs at Embsay and Elslack and for canal support at Winterburn. The Leeds-Liverpool Canal can influence the flow pattern but has a small overall impact. There is a small net export from the catchment.

The flow record

Full period of record peak flow data reviewed and released in September 2022 (WINFAP Files v11).

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
Velocity–area
Operating since
1968
Station datum
87.3 mAOD
Flow record
1968–2024 · 56 yrs · 100% complete
Peak-flow record
since 1966
Hydrometric area
27
Measured by
Environment Agency

Rain upstream

This gauge has no rain model of its own, but it usually follows Keighley: when about 6mm of rain falls near Keighley in 6h, this gauge usually starts rising about 2 hours later.

Recent rain upstream: 0mm/6h — below Keighley's usual trigger.

Record: this held 4 of 6 times (live) · rain gauge: Rainfall station

Experimental, from historical rain and river data. Not an official flood warning.

Frequently asked questions

Is the River Aire at Kildwick flooding today?

The current level is 0.46m, which is within the typical range of 0.19 to 1.60m. Flooding is unlikely at this level.

Is the river level rising or falling at Kildwick?

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. 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 Aire at Kildwick?

The typical range at this station is 0.19m to 1.60m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 1.60m 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.

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