← Back
🌊 Tide going out · low water in ~2h

Lowestoft

Tide 🌊 Tidal
England - East Coast catchment • Lowestoft • Suffolk • ID: E70039 • Level
This gauge is tidally influenced — levels rise and fall with each tide, so rapid changes here are normal and don't necessarily indicate flooding.
(58m ago) • 2 readings/hr • 163 views

Set water level alerts

Get notified about Lowestoft — tick as many as you like, they all share the notify settings below.

You'll be notified when this gauge is rising more than 0.10 mAOD/hr — a sign of rapidly increasing water levels.

Each one is saved as its own alert — pause or remove them individually any time.

Not an emergency service — if in danger call 999. Alerts rely on EA/SEPA data and are best-efforts. Terms

Current Level
0.042 mAOD
▼ Falling (-18cm/hr)
24h Max
0.775 mAOD
24h Min
-0.305 mAOD
Typical Range
-
Highest Recorded
3.35 mAOD
EA official record
2.21 in our data (since Jul 2017)
🚽 Sewage overflows nearby

Recent Water Levels

🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day

Flood predictions aren't generated for tidal gauges — their levels are driven by the tide, not by catchment rainfall, so the forecast models would have no skill here.

Recent Readings

Falling · -32 cm over 7h
23 Aug 22:30 ▼ -4 cm 0.042 mAOD
23 Aug 22:15 ▼▼ -27 cm 0.086 mAOD
23 Aug 21:00 ▼▼ -7 cm 0.354 mAOD
23 Aug 20:45 ▼▼ -12 cm 0.419 mAOD
23 Aug 20:15 ▼▼ -5 cm 0.538 mAOD
23 Aug 20:00 ▼ -2 cm 0.590 mAOD
23 Aug 19:45 ▼ -4 cm 0.611 mAOD
23 Aug 19:30 ▼ -3 cm 0.647 mAOD
23 Aug 19:15 ▲ +0.7 cm 0.675 mAOD
23 Aug 19:00 ▼ -0.4 cm 0.668 mAOD
23 Aug 18:45 ▲ +1 cm 0.672 mAOD
23 Aug 18:30 ▲ +1 cm 0.661 mAOD
23 Aug 18:15 ▲ +0.6 cm 0.647 mAOD
23 Aug 18:00 ▲ +3 cm 0.641 mAOD
23 Aug 17:45 ▲ +3 cm 0.607 mAOD
23 Aug 17:30 ▲ +5 cm 0.575 mAOD
23 Aug 17:00 ▲ +3 cm 0.523 mAOD
23 Aug 16:45 ▲ +4 cm 0.490 mAOD
23 Aug 16:30 ▲ +8 cm 0.447 mAOD
23 Aug 16:00 0.364 mAOD

Rainfall & Weather

Loading rainfall and weather data...

Flood history near this gauge

Official Environment Agency warnings issued since 2006 for the 9 flood areas linked to this gauge (nearest 1.1 km away).

10severe warnings 66flood warnings 304flood alerts

Most recent flood warning: 1 Jan 2026Isolated low lying properties along the tidal River Waveney

Year by year
YearSevereWarningsAlerts
2026 0 1 9
2025 0 5 13
2024 0 8 37
2023 0 5 19
2022 0 6 17
2021 0 0 24
2020 0 10 23
2019 0 3 13
2018 0 0 16
2017 5 7 15
2016 0 0 3
2015 0 7 8
2014 0 2 2
2013 5 11 11
2012 0 0 6
2011 0 1 7
2010 0 0 11
2009 0 0 8
2008 0 0 19
2007 0 0 33
2006 0 0 10

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 Lowestoft flood history.

Nearby Stations

Loading nearby stations...

Station Details

  • Monitoring Station: Lowestoft
  • Watercourse: Tide
  • Nearest Town: Lowestoft
  • County: Suffolk
  • Nearest reservoir: Ormesby (22.6 km) · 87.4% full (as of 28 Dec 2025)
  • Coordinates: 52°28'23"N 1°45'0"E (52.473075, 1.750085)
  • Open in: Google Maps · Apple Maps (opens your maps app)
  • Date Opened: 19 Jan 2012
  • Status: Active
  • Station Type: Tidal / coastal station
  • Station Reference: E70039
  • EA Gauge ID: E70039-level-tidal_level-Mean-15_min-mAOD
  • Parameter: Level
  • Unit: mAOD
  • Typical rise rate: 57 cm/hr (p95 sustained over 90 days)
  • Typical data delay: ~37 min (measured reading→publication lag)
  • Tidal: 🌊 Yes — levels follow the tide
  • Lock / structure: No
  • Catchment Area: England - East Coast
  • EA Cross-check: 0.09 mAOD (EA at 23 Aug 22:15)

Geographic coordinates may reflect the access point for the gauge, and not the precise location in the watercourse that it is taking readings from.

Frequently asked questions

Is the Tide at Lowestoft flooding today?

The latest recorded level is 0.04m. Compare it with the recent history on the chart above to judge whether levels are unusually high.

Is the river level rising or falling at Lowestoft?

Based on the most recent readings, the level is currently falling. The chart above shows the last 7 days of measurements, 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.

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.

Embed this gauge on your website

Free live river-level widget — ideal for parish councils, angling clubs and local sites. Updates automatically.

Preview

📮 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 →