← Back
0.16

Alston

South Tyne
Tyne catchment • Alston • Westmorland and Furness • ID: 023009 • Level
(23m ago) • 4 readings/hr • 139 views

Set water level alerts

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

Unusual rise FloodRadar+Top 1% rise rate for this gauge.
Drag the line on the chart, or type a value: m
Quick pick:

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
0.159 m
▬ Steady
24h Max
0.193 m
24h Min
0.159 m
Typical Range
0.16 - 1.90
m
Highest Recorded
2.85 m
18 May 2013
Since Feb 1970
Current level is 6% of this
🚽 Sewage overflows nearby

Recent Water Levels

🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day

Recent Readings

Falling · -0.7 cm over 6h
24 Aug 00:30 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.159 m
24 Aug 00:15 ▬ steady 0.160 m
24 Aug 00:00 ▬ steady 0.160 m
23 Aug 23:45 ▬ steady 0.160 m
23 Aug 23:30 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.160 m
23 Aug 23:15 ▬ steady 0.161 m
23 Aug 23:00 ▬ steady 0.161 m
23 Aug 22:45 ▼ -0.2 cm 0.161 m
23 Aug 21:30 ▬ steady 0.163 m
23 Aug 21:15 ▬ steady 0.163 m
23 Aug 21:00 ▬ steady 0.163 m
23 Aug 20:45 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.163 m
23 Aug 20:30 ▬ steady 0.164 m
23 Aug 20:15 ▬ steady 0.164 m
23 Aug 20:00 ▬ steady 0.164 m
23 Aug 19:45 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.164 m
23 Aug 19:30 ▬ steady 0.165 m
23 Aug 19:15 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.165 m
23 Aug 19:00 ▬ steady 0.166 m
23 Aug 18:45 0.166 m

Rainfall & Weather

Loading rainfall and weather data...

Flood history near this gauge

Official Environment Agency warnings issued since 2012 for the 1 flood area linked to this gauge (nearest 6.7 km away).

5flood warnings 0flood alerts

Most recent flood warning: 5 Dec 2015River South Tyne at Slaggyford and Lambley

Year by year
YearWarningsAlerts
2015 2 0
2013 2 0
2012 1 0

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 Alston flood history.

Nearby Stations

Loading nearby stations...

Station Details

  • Monitoring Station: Alston
  • Watercourse: River South Tyne
  • Nearest Town: Alston
  • County: Westmorland and Furness
  • Nearest reservoir: Burnhope (14.8 km) · 98.3% full (as of 28 Dec 2025)
  • Coordinates: 54°48'45"N 2°26'36"W (54.812531, -2.443415)
  • Open in: Google Maps · Apple Maps (opens your maps app)
  • Date Opened: 1 Oct 1968
  • Status: Active
  • Station Type: River level station
  • Station Reference: 023009
  • EA Gauge ID: 023009-level-stage-i-15_min-m
  • Parameter: Level
  • Unit: m
  • Typical rise rate: 6 cm/hr (p95 sustained over 90 days)
  • Typical data delay: ~22 min (measured reading→publication lag)
  • Tidal: No
  • Lock / structure: No
  • Catchment Area: Tyne
  • Typical Range: 0.155 – 1.900 m
  • Drainage Area: 119 km² upstream of this gauge
  • Flow Data: Available (m³/s) via EA Hydrology
  • EA Cross-check: 0.16 m (EA at 24 Aug 00:15)
  • 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

🌊 Flashy Rain runs off fast — levels rise and fall sharply, often 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
0.27
flashy — rain runs off fast
Avg Annual Rainfall
1,561 mm/yr
1991–2020 · -9% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
0.1%
largely rural
Median Annual Flood
143 m³/s
QMED — typical yearly peak flow
Highest Recorded Flow
123 m³/s
22 Jun 2012
Flow-Duration Curve
mean 4.6218.001.950.3885% (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 1%Grassland 31%Heath/scrub 67%
Heath/scrub 47% → 67% since 1990

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

Velocity area station with informal flat V weir in a Pennine catchment with a responsive, natural regime.

More detail

The catchment

Steep Pennine moorland catchment developed on Middle and Upper Carboniferous Limestone and Millstone Grit. Land use is predominantly rough grazing. No known catchment changes.

The station

Velocity area station with informal flat V control, subject to periodic boulder damage and undergone several reconstructions. All flow contained. Maintained as chart only for period 1983-1992. Cableway removed in 1980.

How it measures flow

Velocity area station, originally open channel section, an informal flat V control built April 1971 and rebuilt Autumn 1978 following boulder damage. Weir repaired again in 2001. Multi-path ultrasonic gauge installed 1999 to support rating development, ultrasonic can be unreliable at high flows and was deactivated in November 2021. Several ratings applied to daily flow data throughout 1970s, based on current meter gaugings. Two ratings applied to peak flows, latest is from November 1984. Significant extrapolation above highest check gauging but rating supported by ultrasonic data and appears stable.

Flow regime

Very responsive, natural regime. No known artificial influences.

The flow record

Weir is prone to damage from boulders during high flows, leading to frequent repairs and changes of rating during 1970s and 80s. Period of unreliable data 1983-1992, chart maintained through this period but levels not digitised or processed for flow. Rating reviewed in 2019 and records reprocessed from 1992. Rating reviewed in 2022 and records reprocessed from 2018. Water year 1991/1992 peak flows rejected as partial water year missed AMAX due to missing data. Full period of record peak flow data reviewed and released in August 2021 (WINFAP Files v10).

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
Velocity–area
Operating since
1969
Station datum
264.0 mAOD
Flow record
1969–2024 · 55 yrs · 77% complete
Peak-flow record
since 1969
Hydrometric area
23
Measured by
Environment Agency

Frequently asked questions

Is the River South Tyne at Alston flooding today?

The current level is 0.16m, which is within the typical range of 0.16 to 1.90m. Flooding is unlikely at this level.

Is the river level rising or falling at Alston?

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 South Tyne at Alston?

The typical range at this station is 0.16m to 1.90m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 1.90m 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.

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 →