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0.18

Mitford

Wansbeck
Northumberland Rivers catchment • Mitford • Northumberland • ID: 022007 • Level
(51m ago) • 3 readings/hr • 155 views

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Current Level
0.181 m
▬ Steady
24h Max
0.185 m
24h Min
0.181 m
Typical Range
0.22 - 2.00
m
Highest Recorded
4.07 m
EA official record
4.07 in our data (since Mar 1963)
Current level is 4% of this
🚽 Sewage overflows nearby

Recent Water Levels

🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day

Recent Readings

Falling · -0.3 cm over 6h
08 Oct 16:15 ▬ steady 0.181 m
08 Oct 15:45 ▬ steady 0.181 m
08 Oct 15:30 ▬ steady 0.181 m
08 Oct 15:15 ▬ steady 0.181 m
08 Oct 14:45 ▬ steady 0.181 m
08 Oct 14:30 ▬ steady 0.181 m
08 Oct 14:00 ▬ steady 0.181 m
08 Oct 13:45 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.181 m
08 Oct 13:30 ▬ steady 0.182 m
08 Oct 13:00 ▬ steady 0.182 m
08 Oct 12:45 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.182 m
08 Oct 12:30 ▬ steady 0.183 m
08 Oct 12:15 ▬ steady 0.183 m
08 Oct 12:00 ▬ steady 0.183 m
08 Oct 11:45 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.183 m
08 Oct 11:30 ▬ steady 0.184 m
08 Oct 11:15 ▬ steady 0.184 m
08 Oct 11:00 ▬ steady 0.184 m
08 Oct 10:45 ▬ steady 0.184 m
08 Oct 10:30 0.184 m

Station Details

  • Monitoring Station: Mitford
  • Watercourse: River Wansbeck
  • Nearest Town: Mitford
  • County: Northumberland
  • Nearest reservoir: Fontburn (15.3 km) · 98.5% full (as of 28 Dec 2025)
  • Coordinates: 55°9'58"N 1°43'39"W (55.166194, -1.727617)
  • Open in: Google Maps · Apple Maps (opens your maps app)
  • Date Opened: 1 Jan 1962
  • Status: Active (Data Temporarily Suspended)
  • Station Type: River level station
Technical details: references, datum, range, flow archive
  • Station Reference: 022007
  • RLOI id: 8139 (the EA's check-for-flooding station id)
  • EA Gauge ID: 022007-level-stage-i-15_min-m
  • Parameter: Level
  • Unit: m
  • Typical rise rate: 1 cm/hr (p95 sustained over 90 days)
  • Typical data delay: ~22 min (measured reading→publication lag)
  • Tidal: No
  • Lock / structure: No
  • Catchment Area: Northumberland Rivers
  • Typical Range: 0.221 – 2.000 m
  • Drainage Area: 287 km² upstream of this gauge
  • Flow Data: Daily mean flow (m³/s) to 4 May (157 days behind — the EA publishes each day's mean a day or two after it ends; unchecked, provisional) via EA Hydrology
  • EA Cross-check: 0.18 m (EA at 8 Oct 16:15)
  • 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

Nearby

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

💧 Storm overflows upstream of this gauge

None of the storm overflows FloodRadar holds is traced upstream of this gauge on the mapped river network. That is not the same as none: the map leaves out many small streams and culverts, so an overflow it cannot place may still drain here, and not every company publishes every overflow. Those nearby are listed below.

Nearby, connection not known

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

💧
Northumbrian Water · into Duddo Burn · 5.6 km away in a straight line · its watercourse is not on the river map
29 spills · 377 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Northumbrian Water · into Tributary Of The Bothal Burn · 5.6 km away in a straight line · its watercourse is not on the river map
0 spills · 0 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last

15 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 2.00 m on about 2 days. This year so far: 1 day.

2026 1 day so far
2025 0 days
2024 2 days
2023 7 days
2022 1 day
2021 3 days
2020 0 days
2019 2 days
2018 2 days
2017 1 day

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 2012 for the 7 flood areas linked to this gauge (nearest 0.9 km away).

17flood warnings 5flood alerts

Most recent flood warning: 20 Oct 2023 — River Pont at Kirkley Mill, Fox Covert Lane, Darras Hall and Prestwick Carr

Year by year
YearWarningsAlerts
2024 0 1
2023 6 1
2019 1 0
2016 6 0
2013 0 1
2012 4 2

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 Mitford flood history.

Flood areas linked to this gauge

Flood warnings and alerts are issued for whole areas. These are the 7 areas linked to this gauge, nearest first.

Catchment Character

🌊 Flashy Rain 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
0.35
flashy — rain runs off fast
Avg Annual Rainfall
853 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +1% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
0.0%
largely rural
Median Annual Flood
101 m³/s
QMED — typical yearly peak flow
Highest Daily Mean Flow
225 m³/s
6 Sep 2008 · daily mean, not the instantaneous peak
Flow-Duration Curve
mean 3.3612.001.340.2395% (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 19%Grassland 56%Arable 15%Heath/scrub 9%
Arable 20% → 15% since 1990

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 with flat V weir and flume. Record combines data for 22005 and 22007.

More detail

The catchment

A mainly lowland catchment located on moderately permeable Millstone Grit and Upper, Middle and Lower Limestones with extensive boulder clay cover. Around half the catchment is grassland, mixed arable and woodland. No known catchment changes.

The station

Velocity area station. Flat V weir and central flume for low flow measurement (3m wide, overall width 18m) installed 1974, replacing older broad-crested weir also with central flume (located above Tynemouth Corporation intake). Cableway. Just below the station, the channel is confined in deep, steep-sided valley at bend in river. The data series for this station (22007) combines records from Highford (22005) from February 1963, replaced by Mitford from November 1966. In the early period, medium and high flows were measured 0.5 miles downstream at Highford Dam. This had an autographic recorder from February 1963-September 1968, replaced by a punched tape recorder until October 1975. The station was never properly calibrated by gauging, but flows were derived by correlation with Mitford. There was an eel tile installation, central pier extension and fish stilling pool added in 2014.

How it measures flow

Cableway allows for high flow gauging, but wading behind the hut is also necessary at highest levels. Multiple peak flow ratings applied across period of record, the most recent valid from December 1975 post weir modifications. Ratings in good agreement with respective gaugings. Recalibration of upper limb of rating using model has produced slight reduction in flood flows. Flood Studies Rating grade A1.

Flow regime

Font Reservoir impounds 30.3 sq.km of upper catchment on River Font tributary and affects flood flows through drawdown and attenuation. Modest net effect of export from headwater reservoir. Completion of Mitford flood storage dam in April 2015, impounding ~60% of the upstream catchment. This reduces downstream flow in large events, beginning to impact at around 1:25 year return period, with increasingly significant impact on more extreme events. Outflow from the dam is constrained at 150m3/s. The catchment produces sharp hydrographs, but shows a bigger lag than is typical for the area. Northumbrian Water's PWS abstraction at Mitford (just d/s of gauging station) closed by the mid-1990s.

The flow record

Data 17/09/2014-07/10/2014 affected by fish pass installation and eel pass repairs. No AMAX rejected as a result of flood storage dam, but some impact on Jan 2016 event, see event comment. Full period of record peak flow data reviewed and released in September 2020 (WINFAP Files v9). During Storm Babet 20/10/2023 a tree became lodged in the weir and remained, stage data elevated above true conditions as a result. This is most noticeable in lower flows.

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
Gauging structure
Operating since
1968
Station datum
31.4 mAOD
Flow record
1968–2024 · 56 yrs · 100% complete
Peak-flow record
since 1966
Hydrometric area
22
Measured by
Environment Agency

Frequently asked questions

Is the River Wansbeck at Mitford flooding today?

The current level is 0.18m, which is below the typical range. Flooding is very unlikely at this level.

Is the river level rising or falling at Mitford?

Based on the most recent readings, the level is currently steady. The chart above shows the last 12 hours of measurements by default (up to 7 days), updated roughly every 15 minutes.

What is a normal level for the River Wansbeck at Mitford?

The typical range at this station is 0.22m to 2.00m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 2.00m 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:

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 →