across North Carolina
This site provides paddlers with accurate gauge readings of streams in North Carolina. Data is provided by the USGS.
Drag to move. Scroll to zoom. Hover for data. Click for livestream.
Paddlers consider the amount of water in a stream by both height and flow:
Height is a measure of the water surface above some reference point. Here, water height is expressed in units of feet (ft), and the gauge will have its zero-point below the riverbed, preventing negative height readings.
Flow is a measure of the volume of water moving downstream each second. Here, water flow is expressed in units of cubic feet per second (cfs). Flow is not usually measured directly at gauging stations. Tables are used to correlate height to flow readings. The tables are developed by measuring the speed of water at many points across a stream and at different depths. The result is an estimate of flow for a given height. Still, for paddlers, there are advantages to using flow readings rather than height readings.