Swale, Ure, Nidd and Upper Ouse catchment
• York • York • ID: L2404 • Level
⚙ Barrier gauge: it measures the River Foss at the Foss Barrier, so its level is set by the barrier's gates when they operate as well as by the river.
(1h ago) • 2 readings/hr • 265 views
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Get notified about York Foss Barrier — tick as many as you like, they all share the notify settings below.
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Height for "Above a height"
Drag the line on the chart, or type a value:mAOD
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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.
Beta. You'll be notified when a flood wave detected at an upstream gauge is forecast to reach this station, with an estimated arrival time. Accuracy improves as we verify more waves.
You'll be notified when a storm overflow starts discharging, from the water companies' near-real-time feeds. Which overflows:
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Not an emergency service — if in danger call 999. Alerts rely on
EA/SEPA/NRW data and are best-efforts. Terms
Flood predictions aren't generated for
lock / structure gauges —
their levels are driven by gate operation,
not by catchment rainfall, so the forecast models would have no skill here.
Typical rise rate: 2 cm/hr (p95 sustained over 90 days)
Typical data delay: ~22 min (measured reading→publication lag)
Tidal: No
Distance to the sea: about 89 km by river (estimated along OS Open Rivers)
Lock / structure: ⚙ Yes — Barrier gauge: it measures the River Foss at the Foss Barrier, so its level is set by the barrier's gates when they operate as well as by the river.
Storm overflows whose water reaches this gauge on the mapped river network, nearest first by distance along the river. The status is each water company's monitor: it says whether an overflow is discharging, not how much or what it contains.
193 storm overflows are traced upstream of this gauge, the nearest 190 m away along the river. 0 report discharging now, 174 report not discharging, and for 19 the monitor is offline or has not reported, so their status is not known.
Yorkshire Water · into Not Matched In Ea Consents Database · 2.7 km away in a straight line · its watercourse is not on the river map
17 spills · 5 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
11 more within 6 km whose connection is not known.
27 other overflows within 6 km are downstream of this gauge or on another branch of the river network, so they are not listed.
These are the water companies' monitor statuses; a spill does not by itself explain a change in the gauge level. River connections and distances are traced on OS Open Rivers (edition 2026-04), which leaves out many small channels. Sewage & storm overflows →
In a typical year this gauge reaches its typical high of 7.90 m
on about 19 days.
This year so far: 15 days.
202615 days so far
202519 days, 1 of them high · 1 high
202428 days, 8 of them high · 8 high
202338 days, 13 of them high · 13 high
20227 days, 4 of them high · 4 high
202126 days, 6 of them high · 6 high
202029 days, 9 of them high · 9 high
201915 days, 1 of them high · 1 high
20186 days
20172 days
Counted from each day's highest reading. Days with missing or implausible readings are left out.
The darker part is days above 8.76 m, the level this gauge tops only a few days a year.
Flood history near this gauge
Official Environment Agency warnings issued since 2010 for the 29 flood
areas linked to this gauge (nearest 0.2 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 York flood history.
Flood areas linked to this gauge
Flood warnings and alerts are issued for whole areas. These are the 29 areas linked to this gauge, nearest first.
Is the River Ouse at York Foss Barrier flooding today?
The current level is 6.05mAOD, which is within the typical range of 5.05 to 7.90mAOD. Flooding is unlikely at this level.
Is the river level rising or falling at York Foss Barrier?
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. Only about 0.0mm of rain has fallen nearby in the last 7 days, so the flow is being sustained mainly by groundwater. 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.
What is a normal level for the River Ouse at York Foss Barrier?
The typical range at this station is 5.05mAOD to 7.90mAOD, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 7.90mAOD are higher than usually seen and may indicate a flood risk.
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.
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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:
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