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0.06

Ardingly

Ouse
Ouse catchment • Ardingly • West Sussex • ID: E8266 • Level
(36m ago) • 1 reading/hr • 203 views

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Current Level
0.062 mASD
▬ Steady
24h Max
0.065 mASD
24h Min
0.062 mASD
Typical Range
0.06 - 1.05
mASD
Highest Recorded
1.89 mASD
15 Jan 2008
Since May 1981
Current level is 3% of this
🚽 Sewage overflows nearby

Recent Water Levels

🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day

Recent Readings

Steady over 8h
23 Aug 22:30 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.062 mASD
23 Aug 21:15 ▬ steady 0.063 mASD
23 Aug 21:00 ▬ steady 0.063 mASD
23 Aug 20:30 ▬ steady 0.063 mASD
23 Aug 20:15 ▬ steady 0.063 mASD
23 Aug 20:00 ▬ steady 0.063 mASD
23 Aug 19:45 ▬ steady 0.063 mASD
23 Aug 19:30 ▬ steady 0.063 mASD
23 Aug 19:15 ▬ steady 0.063 mASD
23 Aug 19:00 ▬ steady 0.063 mASD
23 Aug 18:30 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.063 mASD
23 Aug 18:00 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.064 mASD
23 Aug 17:30 ▬ steady 0.063 mASD
23 Aug 17:15 ▬ steady 0.063 mASD
23 Aug 17:00 ▬ steady 0.063 mASD
23 Aug 16:15 ▬ steady 0.063 mASD
23 Aug 16:00 ▬ steady 0.063 mASD
23 Aug 15:45 ▬ steady 0.063 mASD
23 Aug 15:30 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.063 mASD
23 Aug 15:00 0.062 mASD

Rainfall & Weather

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Flood history near this gauge

Official Environment Agency warnings issued since 2012 for the 6 flood areas linked to this gauge (nearest 0.4 km away).

36flood warnings 141flood alerts

Most recent flood warning: 27 Jan 2026Lindfield Bridge on the River Ouse

Year by year
YearWarningsAlerts
2026 2 6
2025 1 10
2024 5 20
2023 1 15
2022 3 13
2021 1 6
2020 3 15
2019 7 11
2018 0 2
2017 0 2
2016 2 11
2015 2 4
2014 5 13
2013 3 6
2012 1 7

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 Ardingly flood history.

Nearby Stations

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Station Details

  • Monitoring Station: Ardingly
  • Watercourse: River Ouse
  • Nearest Town: Ardingly
  • County: West Sussex
  • Nearest reservoir: Ardingly (1.3 km) · 49.3% full (as of 16 Aug 2026)
  • Coordinates: 51°2'18"N 0°6'1"W (51.038451, -0.100268)
  • Open in: Google Maps · Apple Maps (opens your maps app)
  • Date Opened: 1 May 1981
  • Status: Active
  • Station Type: River level station
  • Station Reference: E8266
  • EA Gauge ID: E8266-level-stage-i-15_min-mASD
  • Parameter: Level
  • Unit: mASD
  • Typical rise rate: 1 cm/hr (p95 sustained over 90 days)
  • Typical data delay: ~22 min (measured reading→publication lag)
  • Tidal: No
  • Lock / structure: No
  • Catchment Area: Ouse
  • Typical Range: 0.061 – 1.053 mASD
  • Drainage Area: 37 km² upstream of this gauge
  • Flow Data: Available (m³/s) via EA Hydrology
  • EA Cross-check: 0.06 mASD (EA at 23 Aug 22:00)
  • 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
0.48
mixed response
Avg Annual Rainfall
886 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +4% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
1.3%
largely rural
Highest Recorded Flow
20.90 m³/s
15 Jan 2008
Flow-Duration Curve
mean 0.4221.720.1340.0165% (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 23%Grassland 53%Arable 20%Urban 3%Other 1%
Grassland 64% → 53% since 1990

Flow affected by: public water supply.

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

Flat-V weir replaced (in 1993) a compound broad-crested weir. Downstream of rarely used abstraction which feeds directly to Ardingly Reservoir.

More detail

The station

Flat-V weir fitted with ultrasonics for high flow measurement in 2010.

How it measures flow

Weir thought to drown at high flows. Difficult to reach gauging station at high flows.

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
1979
Station datum
35.2 mAOD
Flow record
1979–2024 · 45 yrs · 99% complete
Hydrometric area
41
Measured by
Environment Agency

Frequently asked questions

Is the River Ouse at Ardingly flooding today?

The current level is 0.06m, which is within the typical range of 0.06 to 1.05m. Flooding is unlikely at this level.

Is the river level rising or falling at Ardingly?

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 Ouse at Ardingly?

The typical range at this station is 0.06m to 1.05m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 1.05m 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 →