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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
0.745 m
▼ Falling (-2cm/hr)
24h Max
0.787 m
24h Min
0.470 m
Typical Range
0.41 - 4.60
m
Highest Recorded
6.96 m
EA official record
6.30 in our data (since Dec 1964)
Current level is 11% 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.
70 storm overflows are traced upstream of this gauge, the nearest 1.2 km away along the river. 0 report discharging now, 70 report not discharging.
Northumbrian Water · into Mill Burn · 5.4 km away in a straight line · its watercourse is not on the river map
0 spills · 0 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
2 more within 6 km whose connection is not known.
3 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 Bywell flood history.
Flood areas linked to this gauge
Flood warnings and alerts are issued for whole areas. These are the 9 areas linked to this gauge, nearest first.
🌊 FlashyRain runs off fast — levels rise and fall sharply, often within hours of heavy rain.
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
0.32
flashy — rain runs off fast
Avg Annual Rainfall
1,124 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +4% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
0.3%
largely rural
Median Annual Flood
832 m³/s
QMED — typical yearly peak flow
Highest Daily Mean Flow
1,450 m³/s
5 Dec 2015 · 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.
Principal gauging station on the Tyne - a velocity area station. Flow regime influenced by releases from Kielder.
More detail
The catchment
A large, impervious catchment (largely Carboniferous Limestone) with extensive superficial deposits (peat, boulder clay, alluvium) draining from north Pennines. Includes Kielder Reservoir which controls 241 sq.km of the catchment (impounded 1982). Around half of the catchment is grassland, with extensive moorland arable farming confined to the lower valley. There has been significant afforestation in the catchment since 1926.
The station
Principal gauging station on the Tyne. Velocity area station with cableway on a wide reach. Blockage/damage to stilling pipe caused problems in early 1990s. Removal of gravel from d/s river bed between 1961 and 1963 affected water levels, leading to replacement of stilling well at lower level; high flows relatively unaffected.
How it measures flow
Before 1961 and after 1964 station considered good for high flow measurement. Ratings have changed over the record owing to alterations in control and bed levels resulting from gravel extraction. Three peak flow ratings for the period of record. Ratings fit well to corresponding gaugings. Flood Studies Report grade A1 before and after 1962-65, B during.
Flow regime
Some export of water, and regime influenced by pulsed hydropower releases from Kielder, but limited impact on annual runoff. In drought years, Kielder releases maintenance low flows (4.2 cumecs min.) and support transfers to the Derwent, Wear and Tees which are abstracted at Riding Mill 500m u/s.
The flow record
As a result of re-rating after gravel extraction the October 1967 flood is now thought to have been lower than the January 2005 peak of 1370 cumecs. Rating C applied in September 2013 resulted in reduced flows (from 1992 onwards), especially at low levels. Rating D applied following December 2015 event, same as previous rating but modifies and extends the top limb above 1130 cumecs. Gauged to very high level, including floodplain flow estimate, in December 2015 event and confirmed by hydraulic model. 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 Tyne at Bywell flooding today?
The current level is 0.75m, which is within the typical range of 0.41 to 4.60m. Flooding is unlikely at this level.
Is the river level rising or falling at Bywell?
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 Tyne at Bywell?
The typical range at this station is 0.41m to 4.60m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 4.60m 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.
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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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