Aire and Calder catchment
• Dewsbury • West Yorkshire • ID: F1306 • Level
(21m ago) • 1 reading/hr • 156 views
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Current Level
0.432 m
▲ Rising slightly
24h Max
0.436 m
24h Min
0.380 m
Typical Range
0.48 - 5.00
m
Highest Recorded
8.44 m
28 Sep 2025
Since Mar 1996
Current level is 5% of this
🚽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 · +4 cm over 6h
23 Aug 22:45▲ +0.7 cm0.432 m
23 Aug 21:30▲ +0.3 cm0.425 m
23 Aug 21:15▲ +0.2 cm0.422 m
23 Aug 21:00▲ +0.2 cm0.420 m
23 Aug 20:45▲ +0.2 cm0.418 m
23 Aug 20:30▲ +0.1 cm0.416 m
23 Aug 20:15▬ steady0.415 m
23 Aug 20:00▲ +0.1 cm0.415 m
23 Aug 19:45▲ +0.3 cm0.414 m
23 Aug 19:30▲ +0.3 cm0.411 m
23 Aug 19:15▲ +0.3 cm0.408 m
23 Aug 19:00▲ +0.3 cm0.405 m
23 Aug 18:45▲ +0.4 cm0.402 m
23 Aug 18:30▲ +0.3 cm0.398 m
23 Aug 18:15▲ +0.1 cm0.395 m
23 Aug 18:00▬ steady0.394 m
23 Aug 17:45▬ steady0.394 m
23 Aug 17:30▬ steady0.394 m
23 Aug 17:15▼ -0.2 cm0.394 m
23 Aug 17:000.396 m
Rainfall & Weather
Loading rainfall and weather data...
Flood history near this gauge
Official Environment Agency warnings issued since 2011 for the 25 flood
areas linked to this gauge (nearest 0.4 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 Dewsbury 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
🌊 Mixed responseA balance of quick runoff and slower groundwater baseflow.
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
0.52
mixed response
Avg Annual Rainfall
1,182 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +3% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
8.7%
partly urbanised
Median Annual Flood
266 m³/s
QMED — typical yearly peak flow
Highest Recorded Flow
316 m³/s
20 Feb 2022
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.
Ultrasonic velocity-area station replaced level-only station in 2000. Catchment is heavily reservoired.
More detail
The catchment
Catchment draining the eastern flank of the Pennines. The geology is predominantly Upper Carboniferous Millstone Grit but includes Lower Coal Measures. Headwaters rise from peat-covered moorland. From rough grazing, very steep, often wooded headwater valleys cut down through Millstone Grit. The valley floors are strongly urbanised and industrialised. Increasing urbanisation in valley bottom towns.
The station
Ultrasonic gauge with additional velocity area rating, built October 2000. Situated on a meander 30m wide, around 0.6km d/s of where the Dewsbury Flood Defence Channel rejoins the River Calder. Man-made channel with vertical sided masonry walls, open out to wider channel at around 2.3m stage, wider channel also has vertical sides. Natural channel was canalised in early 1970s (finished end of 1974). Replaced existing river level-only station. Level-only station built in April 1964, and had a pressure transducer from 1975. Station number previously 27835.
How it measures flow
Ultrasonic gauge with rating curve based on check gaugings. Ultrasonic used for daily flow records, rating is used to infill periods where ultrasonic data is missing for daily flows. Rating curve has proved more reliable in flood events and is now used as the main source for peak flow data. High vertical walls contain all flows in the section, no known bypassing.
Flow regime
Catchment is heavily reservoired, mainly by small impoundments, but including Walshaw Dean. Estimated 12.2% of catchment drains through around 20 reservoirs. Some abstraction to supply Yorkshire Grid. Also affected by sewage treatment works discharges, leads to diurnal variations in flow.
The flow record
Records pre October 2000 are derived from the rating curve, after that date daily flows are primarily from the ultrasonic gauge but peak flows all derived from rating. Full period of record peak flow data reviewed and released in September 2020 (WINFAP Files v9).
How this gauging station is built and how long it has measured (NRFA / UKCEH).
Gauge type
Gauging structure
Operating since
1996
Flow record
1996–2024 · 28 yrs · 99% complete
Peak-flow record
since 1996
Hydrometric area
27
Measured by
Environment Agency
Nearby Groundwater
Soil Moisture
Possible storm-overflow correlation
🚽 Storm overflows on this river
Frequently asked questions
Is the River Calder at Dewsbury flooding today?
The current level is 0.43m, which is below the typical range. Flooding is very unlikely at this level.
Is the river level rising or falling at Dewsbury?
Based on the most recent readings, the level is currently rising slightly. The chart above shows the last 7 days of measurements, updated roughly every 15 minutes.
What is a normal level for the River Calder at Dewsbury?
The typical range at this station is 0.48m to 5.00m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 5.00m 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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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:
15 Jan 2015 Looking downstream through gauge section. Gaugeboard, transducers and instrument building all in view on the right bank.
15 Jan 2015 View across to left bank transducer racks.
15 Jan 2015 View downstream from the right bank.
15 Jan 2015 View of the right bank. Gaugeboards, transducer racks and instrument building all in shot.
15 Jan 2015 Looking back upstream through the gauge section from the left bank.
Gauge section and downstream channel from L bank
Looking u/s towards gauge section from L bank
