← Back
🌊 Tide going out · high water in ~5h

North Shields

Tide 🌊 Tidal
England - East Coast catchment • Cullercoats • Tyne and Wear • ID: E70939 • 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.
(49m ago) • 3 readings/hr • 133 views

Set water level alerts

Get notified about North Shields — 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 m/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/NRW data and are best-efforts. Terms

Current Level
-1.815 mAOD
▼ Falling (-57cm/hr)
24h Max
2.833 mAOD
24h Min
-1.874 mAOD
Typical Range
-
Highest Recorded
4.04 mAOD
EA official record
A 9.39 reading (5 Dec 2019) sits in our unverified raw history and is not treated as the record
🚽 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 · -460 cm over 6h
10 Oct 09:30 ▼▼ -11 cm -1.815 mAOD
10 Oct 09:15 ▼▼ -32 cm -1.702 mAOD
10 Oct 08:45 ▼▼ -18 cm -1.387 mAOD
10 Oct 08:30 ▼▼ -22 cm -1.205 mAOD
10 Oct 08:15 ▼▼ -23 cm -0.981 mAOD
10 Oct 08:00 ▼▼ -25 cm -0.753 mAOD
10 Oct 07:45 ▼▼ -28 cm -0.502 mAOD
10 Oct 07:30 ▼▼ -27 cm -0.221 mAOD
10 Oct 07:15 ▼▼ -29 cm 0.045 mAOD
10 Oct 07:00 ▼▼ -30 cm 0.333 mAOD
10 Oct 06:45 ▼▼ -28 cm 0.628 mAOD
10 Oct 06:30 ▼▼ -26 cm 0.907 mAOD
10 Oct 06:15 ▼▼ -55 cm 1.169 mAOD
10 Oct 05:45 ▼▼ -24 cm 1.715 mAOD
10 Oct 05:30 ▼▼ -18 cm 1.953 mAOD
10 Oct 05:15 ▼▼ -19 cm 2.129 mAOD
10 Oct 05:00 ▼▼ -18 cm 2.317 mAOD
10 Oct 04:45 ▼▼ -22 cm 2.497 mAOD
10 Oct 04:15 ▼▼ -6 cm 2.720 mAOD
10 Oct 04:00 2.783 mAOD

Station Details

  • Monitoring Station: North Shields
  • Watercourse: Tide
  • Nearest Town: Cullercoats
  • County: Tyne and Wear
  • Coordinates: 55°0'27"N 1°26'23"W (55.007415, -1.439769)
  • Open in: Google Maps · Apple Maps (opens your maps app)
  • Date Opened: 13 Jan 2012
  • Status: Active
  • Station Type: Tidal / coastal station
Technical details: references, datum, range, flow archive
  • Station Reference: E70939
  • RLOI id: 8150 (the EA's check-for-flooding station id)
  • EA Gauge ID: E70939-level-tidal_level-Mean-15_min-mAOD
  • Parameter: Level
  • Unit: mAOD
  • Typical rise rate: 112 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: -1.82 mAOD (EA at 10 Oct 09:30)

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

Rainfall & Weather

Loading rainfall and weather data...

Flood history near this gauge

Official Environment Agency warnings issued since 2011 for the 4 flood areas linked to this gauge (nearest 0.2 km away).

76flood warnings 76flood alerts

Most recent flood warning: 5 Feb 2026 — Tyne estuary at North Shields, South Shields and Howdon Pans

Year by year
YearWarningsAlerts
2026 2 10
2025 0 11
2024 8 15
2023 4 7
2022 0 1
2021 2 1
2020 7 5
2019 5 6
2018 16 3
2017 6 4
2016 2 5
2015 4 1
2014 3 2
2013 12 2
2012 4 2
2011 1 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 Cullercoats flood history.

Flood areas linked to this gauge

Flood warnings and alerts are issued for whole areas. These are the 4 areas linked to this gauge, nearest first.

Frequently asked questions

Is the Tide at North Shields flooding today?

The latest recorded level is -1.82m. 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 North Shields?

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.

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.

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, recorded floods, warning history, river behaviour and nearby storm overflows. £19 one-off. Learn more →