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You'll be notified when this gauge is rising more than 0.10 m/hr — a sign of rapidly increasing water levels.
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Current Level
3.588 m
▲ Rising (+9cm/hr)
24h Max
3.640 m
24h Min
3.426 m
Typical Range
3.55 - 4.14
m
Highest Recorded
5.91 m
24 Oct 2022
Since Mar 1989
Current level is 61% of this
Current Flow
Loading...
🚽Sewage overflows nearby
Recent Water Levels
🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day
Prediction V2
Prediction Eris
Nimbus beta
Experimental model fusing soil moisture, river flow, groundwater and catchment
character. Shown with its calibrated 10–90% confidence band. Under evaluation —
not yet promoted, so treat as a second opinion.
River Flow
90 days
Daily mean discharge (m³/s) with the daily min–max band, from the EA Hydrology API. Flow is the volume of water passing the gauge — often a more direct flood signal than level.
Long Term
🌍 floodradar.co.uk
—
Consecutive rainy days0 → 10+
Days Above Normal
This year vs 5-year monthly range
Recent Readings
Rising · +9 cm over 6h
23 Aug 23:30▲ +2 cm3.588 m
23 Aug 23:15▲ +4 cm3.565 m
23 Aug 23:00▲ +3 cm3.530 m
23 Aug 22:45▲ +1 cm3.500 m
23 Aug 21:30▬ steady3.489 m
23 Aug 21:15▬ steady3.489 m
23 Aug 21:00▬ steady3.488 m
23 Aug 20:45▬ steady3.488 m
23 Aug 20:30▬ steady3.488 m
23 Aug 20:15▬ steady3.487 m
23 Aug 20:00▬ steady3.488 m
23 Aug 19:45▬ steady3.487 m
23 Aug 19:30▬ steady3.488 m
23 Aug 19:15▬ steady3.489 m
23 Aug 19:00▼ -0.1 cm3.489 m
23 Aug 18:45▬ steady3.490 m
23 Aug 18:30▼ -0.2 cm3.491 m
23 Aug 18:15▼ -0.2 cm3.493 m
23 Aug 18:00▼ -0.2 cm3.495 m
23 Aug 17:453.497 m
Rainfall & Weather
Loading rainfall and weather data...
Flood history near this gauge
Official Environment Agency warnings issued since 2008 for the 24 flood
areas linked to this gauge (nearest 0.3 km away).
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 Westy flood history.
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
🌊 Urban & flashyHeavily built-up — rain runs off hard surfaces fast, so levels can spike 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
0.44
mixed response
Avg Annual Rainfall
1,128 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +6% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
17%
heavily urbanised
Highest Recorded Flow
214 m³/s
30 Oct 2000
Flow-Duration Curve
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.
Flow affected by: surface-water abstraction, public water supply, groundwater abstraction, effluent returns, industrial / agricultural abstraction.
About this gauge
Ultrasonic multi cross path station which replaced the downstream site of Howley, upgraded to velocity index in 2017.
More detail
The catchment
Large catchment containing much of Manchester. The main tributaries arise on peat moorlands to W and N of Manchester. High ground mostly Millstone Grit or Coal Measures. The centre and south of the catchment is underlain by Sherwood Sandstones and Mercia mudstones blanketed by Boulder Clay, terrace gravels and lowland peat. Diverse catchment, extensively urbanised.
The station
Ultrasonic, multipath, cross path station replacing an earlier unsatisfactory site at Howley (1.5km d/s). Numerous equipment faults, failed 2015 and replaced by index velocity sidelooker in Nov 2017.
How it measures flow
Experiences abstraction, augmentation, tidal influence and regulation. Runoff probably substantially modified, at least temporally.
Flow regime
Flow comprises Ship Canal overflow only; flows need to be combined with an ultrasonic site on the Ship Canal at Latchford, Warrington, available from the Environment Agency. Latchford flows understood to be of good quality although the record is short (1997-2002) and no gaugings are available for validation.
The flow record
Limited reliability of ultrasonics, significant gaps in flow record. Out of use 27/02/2007 to 25/06/2008 whilst being upgraded. Equipment failure 19/11/2008 to 18/03/2009, 20/04/2010 to 26/08/2012 and ultimately 19/04/2015. Anomalous and missing data in 2013 due to repair works on Manchester Ship Canal. Sidelooker installed Nov 2017, some gaps when affected by weed (e.g. May to Sept 2018). Positioned lower in the water for 2019. Anomaly around 01/06/2020 due to repairs at Howley weir sluices. Data not held from 17/03/2022 to 30/09/2022 because of the impact of instrument failures and sluice management on data quality. Outage from 10/06/2023 to 26/07/2023 due to lightning.
How this gauging station is built and how long it has measured (NRFA / UKCEH).
Gauge type
Ultrasonic
Operating since
1977
Station datum
2.5 mAOD
Flow record
1986–2024 · 38 yrs · 78% complete
Hydrometric area
69
Measured by
Environment Agency
Nearby Groundwater
Soil Moisture
Possible storm-overflow correlation
🚽 Storm overflows on this river
Frequently asked questions
Is the River Mersey at Westy flooding today?
The current level is 3.59m, which is within the typical range of 3.55 to 4.14m. Flooding is unlikely at this level.
Is the river level rising or falling at Westy?
Based on the most recent readings, the level is currently rising. The chart above shows the last 7 days of measurements, updated roughly every 15 minutes.
What is a normal level for the River Mersey at Westy?
The typical range at this station is 3.55m to 4.14m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 4.14m 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.
Embed this gauge on your website
Free live river-level widget — ideal for parish councils, angling clubs and local sites. Updates automatically.
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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:
