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⏱ Last reading 10h ago · may be out of date
0.03

Shilmoor

Usway Burn
Northumberland Rivers catchment • Shillmoor • Northumberland • ID: 022003 • Level
(10h ago) • 4 readings/hr • 142 views

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Last Level
0.034 m
⚠ 10h ago · may be out of date
24h Max
0.034 m
24h Min
0.023 m
Typical Range
0.04 - 1.00
m
Highest Recorded
1.59 m
EA official record
1.59 in our data (since Oct 1967)
Current level is 2% of this
🚽 Sewage overflows nearby

Recent Water Levels

🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day

Recent Readings

Rising · +0.2 cm over 5h
09 Oct 19:30 ▬ steady 0.034 m
09 Oct 19:15 ▬ steady 0.034 m
09 Oct 19:00 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.034 m
09 Oct 18:45 ▬ steady 0.033 m
09 Oct 18:30 ▬ steady 0.033 m
09 Oct 18:15 ▬ steady 0.033 m
09 Oct 18:00 ▬ steady 0.033 m
09 Oct 17:45 ▬ steady 0.033 m
09 Oct 17:30 ▬ steady 0.033 m
09 Oct 17:15 ▬ steady 0.033 m
09 Oct 17:00 ▬ steady 0.033 m
09 Oct 16:45 ▬ steady 0.033 m
09 Oct 16:30 ▬ steady 0.033 m
09 Oct 16:15 ▬ steady 0.033 m
09 Oct 16:00 ▬ steady 0.033 m
09 Oct 15:45 ▬ steady 0.033 m
09 Oct 15:30 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.033 m
09 Oct 15:15 ▬ steady 0.032 m
09 Oct 15:00 ▬ steady 0.032 m
09 Oct 14:45 0.032 m

Station Details

  • Monitoring Station: Shilmoor
  • Watercourse: Usway Burn
  • Nearest Town: Shillmoor
  • County: Northumberland
  • Nearest reservoir: Catcleugh (15.3 km) · 100.0% full (as of 28 Dec 2025)
  • Coordinates: 55°21'47"N 2°10'49"W (55.363152, -2.180351)
  • Open in: Google Maps · Apple Maps (opens your maps app)
  • Date Opened: 17 Apr 1903
  • Status: Active
  • Station Type: River level station
Technical details: references, datum, range, flow archive
  • Station Reference: 022003
  • RLOI id: 8182 (the EA's check-for-flooding station id)
  • EA Gauge ID: 022003-level-stage-i-15_min-m
  • Parameter: Level
  • Unit: m
  • Typical rise rate: 0 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: 0.039 – 1.000 m
  • Drainage Area: 21 km² upstream of this gauge
  • Flow Data: Daily mean flow (m³/s) to 8 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: 0.03 m (EA at 9 Oct 19:30)
  • 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 downstream

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.

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 →

Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database rights 2026.

Rainfall & Weather

Loading rainfall and weather data...

How often this river runs high

This gauge rarely reaches its typical high of 1.00 m: 3 days since 2017. This year so far: 0 days.

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

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

Catchment Character

🌊 Steep & flashy Steep catchment sheds rain quickly — expect fast, sharp rises after 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
0.30
flashy — rain runs off fast
Avg Annual Rainfall
1,205 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +15% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
0.0%
largely rural
Median Annual Flood
19.62 m³/s
QMED — typical yearly peak flow
Highest Daily Mean Flow
26.88 m³/s
6 Sep 2008 · daily mean, not the instantaneous peak
Flow-Duration Curve
mean 0.5641.960.2790.0795% (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 36%Grassland 42%Heath/scrub 22%
Heath/scrub 53% → 22% 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

Thin-plate weir discontinued in 1980 but recommissioned as level-only station in 1995 for flood warning and reinstated as flow gauge in 1999.

More detail

The catchment

Small upland moorland catchment draining from The Cheviot. Rough grass and heather, peaty sub-soil and mainly igneous bed-rock. Substantial recent afforestation.

The station

Thin-plate weir with 6.2m wide centre crest and two flanking broad crests of differing widths (0.85m right bank, 2.2m left bank). Discontinued in 1980 and weir plates removed. Recommissioned as a level-only station in 1995 for flood warning using concrete broadcrested weir with notch. Weir plates reinstated in September 1999. Good d/s drop over the weir prevents drowning.

How it measures flow

No bypassing. No cableway, gaugings only possible at low flows. Two peak flow ratings applied across period of record for pre-1995 and then post-1999 following reinstatement. Based on theoretical rating of thin plate weir with check current meter measurements at wading level. Rating updated in 2008 and applied back to 1999 when weir plates reinstated. Flood Studies Report grade D pre-1966, A1 post-1966.

Flow regime

No known artificial influences.

The flow record

Gaps in the record occur due to inaccessibility in winter and incomplete flow measurement at very high flows. Peak flows are rejected since the site re-opened and weir plates installed in 1999 as the top end of the rating is not yet reliable. Full period of record peak flow data reviewed 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
Gauging structure
Operating since
1952
Station datum
207.0 mAOD
Flow record
1957–2024 · 67 yrs · 71% complete
Peak-flow record
since 1951
Hydrometric area
22
Measured by
Environment Agency

Frequently asked questions

Is the Usway Burn at Shilmoor flooding today?

The current level is 0.03m, which is below the typical range. Flooding is very unlikely at this level.

Is the river level rising or falling at Shilmoor?

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 Usway Burn at Shilmoor?

The typical range at this station is 0.04m to 1.00m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 1.00m 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:

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