Missouri River near St. James water level

What this means

Low water at Missouri River near St. James: the gauge reads 32.05 ft, far below normal for mid-October.

The median for mid-October is 33.45 ft, based on 9 years of readings, so the river stage is 1.40 ft below typical. It is 12.95 ft below the flood stage of 45.00 ft. On the same day last year the reading was 32.33 ft, a difference of −0.28 ft.

It is still going down, by 0.05 ft over the past 24 hours. Without real rain upstream, that is unlikely to change quickly.

Fall is often low-water season on rivers, and it usually takes a few days of steady rain to change that.

Compared with 9 years of daily readings for this time of year. How to read levels

Key numbers

Median for this date

33.45 ft1.40 ft below the median for this date

Normal for this date

32.34 ft – 38.29 ft8 years in 10 fall in this range (9 years of records)

Same day last year

32.33 ft−0.28 ft

Lowest and highest in 30 days

31.91 ft – 32.42 ft

Lowest and highest in 12 months

29.79 ft – 35.50 ft

Highest on record

39.50 ftMarch 15, 2019