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3.86

Wheatley

Thame
Cherwell Thame and Wye catchment • Wheatley • Oxfordshire • ID: 1980TH • Level
(47m ago) • 2 readings/hr • 157 views

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Current Level
3.858 mASD
▬ Steady
24h Max
3.863 mASD
24h Min
3.856 mASD
Typical Range
3.60 - 5.75
mASD
Highest Recorded
12.21 mASD
26 Feb 2025
Since May 1989
Current level is 32% of this
Current Flow
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🚽 Sewage overflows nearby

Recent Water Levels

🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day

Recent Readings

Steady over 6h
23 Aug 22:45 ▬ steady 3.858 mASD
23 Aug 22:30 ▬ steady 3.858 mASD
23 Aug 21:15 ▬ steady 3.859 mASD
23 Aug 21:00 ▬ steady 3.859 mASD
23 Aug 20:45 ▬ steady 3.859 mASD
23 Aug 20:30 ▬ steady 3.859 mASD
23 Aug 20:15 ▬ steady 3.859 mASD
23 Aug 20:00 ▬ steady 3.859 mASD
23 Aug 19:45 ▬ steady 3.859 mASD
23 Aug 19:30 ▬ steady 3.859 mASD
23 Aug 19:15 ▬ steady 3.859 mASD
23 Aug 19:00 ▬ steady 3.859 mASD
23 Aug 18:45 ▬ steady 3.859 mASD
23 Aug 18:30 ▬ steady 3.859 mASD
23 Aug 18:15 ▬ steady 3.859 mASD
23 Aug 18:00 ▬ steady 3.859 mASD
23 Aug 17:45 ▬ steady 3.859 mASD
23 Aug 17:30 ▬ steady 3.859 mASD
23 Aug 17:15 ▬ steady 3.859 mASD
23 Aug 17:00 3.860 mASD

Rainfall & Weather

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Flood history near this gauge

Official Environment Agency warnings issued since 2008 for the 5 flood areas linked to this gauge (nearest 7.0 km away).

23flood warnings 141flood alerts

Most recent flood warning: 24 Sep 2024River Thame from Chiselhampton to Drayton St Leonard

Year by year
YearWarningsAlerts
2026 0 28
2025 0 6
2024 6 10
2023 1 14
2022 0 7
2021 3 6
2020 2 8
2019 0 6
2018 0 6
2017 1 5
2016 0 8
2015 0 5
2014 5 2
2013 1 4
2012 3 12
2011 0 2
2010 0 5
2009 1 6
2008 0 1

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 Wheatley flood history.

Nearby Stations

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Station Details

  • Monitoring Station: Wheatley
  • Watercourse: River Thame
  • Nearest Town: Wheatley
  • County: Oxfordshire
  • Nearest reservoir: Farmoor (16.9 km) · 92.0% full (as of 31 Jul 2026)
  • Coordinates: 51°44'26"N 1°6'55"W (51.740637, -1.115198)
  • Open in: Google Maps · Apple Maps (opens your maps app)
  • Date Opened: 1 Jan 1988
  • Status: Active
  • Station Type: River level station
  • Station Reference: 1980TH
  • EA Gauge ID: 1980TH-level-stage-i-15_min-mASD
  • Parameter: Level
  • Unit: mASD
  • Typical rise rate: 2 cm/hr (p95 sustained over 90 days)
  • Typical data delay: ~37 min (measured reading→publication lag)
  • Tidal: No
  • Lock / structure: No
  • Catchment Area: Cherwell Thame and Wye
  • Typical Range: 3.597 – 5.752 mASD
  • Drainage Area: 534 km² upstream of this gauge
  • Flow Data: Available (m³/s) via EA Hydrology
  • EA Cross-check: 3.86 mASD (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
0.49
mixed response
Avg Annual Rainfall
669 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +1% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
3.6%
partly urbanised
Highest Recorded Flow
68.10 m³/s
3 Jan 2003
Flow-Duration Curve
mean 3.7814.001.790.7045% (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 6%Grassland 52%Arable 32%Urban 10%
Arable 38% → 32% since 1990

Flow affected by: groundwater abstraction, effluent returns.

About this gauge

Located on the River Thame at Wheatley the ultrasonic gauging station superseded the upstream station at Shabbington (39038).

More detail

The catchment

The Thame drains a typical clay (principally Oxford Clay, some Greensand also) vale NW of the Chiltern escarpment. Land use is largely agricultural (considerable grassland) while the urban areas within the catchment include the town is Aylesbury.

The station

Multi-path US (cross- configuration).

How it measures flow

Full range, railway embankment ensures no bypassing. Skewed flow, weed-growth and summer temperature gradients can limit accuracy particularly at low flows (e.g. early autumn 2009).

Flow regime

Some spring flow contribution but responsive regime. Net import of water; sewage effluent is a significant component of low flows.

The flow record

Approximately 80 cumecs gauged in 01/2003. Flows in August 2017 affected by weed growth. Missing data in December 2019 due to station upgrade works.

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
Ultrasonic
Operating since
1989
Station datum
50.0 mAOD
Flow record
1989–2024 · 35 yrs · 100% complete
Hydrometric area
39
Measured by
Environment Agency

Frequently asked questions

Is the River Thame at Wheatley flooding today?

The current level is 3.86m, which is within the typical range of 3.60 to 5.75m. Flooding is unlikely at this level.

Is the river level rising or falling at Wheatley?

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 Thame at Wheatley?

The typical range at this station is 3.60m to 5.75m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 5.75m 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 →