Penwortham water level

Name: Penwortham water level (Environment Agency)
Creator: Environment Agency
License: https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/

River gauge, River Ribble, Lancashire, United Kingdom

Directions

Lower than ever recorded here

Water level

1.88m Steady over the last 24 hours

Measured 18 Oct 2026, 21:30 BST (40 min ago)

History

7 days 30 days

Water level Top of normal rangeBottom of normal range

What this means

The River Ribble at Penwortham is running at a record low at 1.88 m.

No reading on record has been lower: the old record low was 1.89 m, from October 27, 2023. The usual range here runs from 1.89 m to 6.33 m.

The level has held steady over the past 24 hours. Without real rain upstream, that is unlikely to change quickly. In the last month it has stayed between 1.87 m and 4.99 m.

Autumn rain usually starts to lift rivers again after the summer low.

Compared with the highest and lowest levels the agency has recorded at this gauge. How to read levels

Key numbers

Normal range: 1.89 m – 6.33 m
Lowest and highest in 30 days: 1.87 m – 4.99 m
Lowest and highest in 12 months: 1.91 m – 2.81 m
Highest on record: 6.06 mApril 9, 2024
Lowest on record: 1.89 mOctober 27, 2023
Lowest on record: 0.01 m below the lowest level on record

Fishing and paddling

At low levels, many rivers become a walk-and-paddle trip. Fish hold in deeper pools and spook easily.

Flood alerts and warnings come from the Environment Agency.

About the River Ribble

The River Ribble is a river that flows through North Yorkshire and Lancashire in Northern England. It has a length of approximately 75 miles from its source near Selside in Ribblesdale to its estuary on the Irish Sea.

Weather at the gauge

Rain in the last 3 days: 4.8 mm. Rain that falls upstream can take hours or days to show up at a river gauge.

18 Sun 13° 5° – Wind 12 km/h

19 Mon 14° 7° 0.7 mm, 32% Wind 19 km/h

20 Tue 12° 9° 1.9 mm, 73% Wind 8 km/h

21 Wed 10° 4° 6.0 mm, 73% Wind 25 km/h

22 Thu 11° 3° 0.3 mm, 71% Wind 14 km/h

23 Fri 8° 6° 18 mm, 90% Wind 25 km/h

24 Sat 12° 6° 5.2 mm, 90% Wind 25 km/h

Forecast: Open-Meteo

Sunrise 07:44 AM Sunset 06:09 PM Daylight 10 hr, 25 min First quarter 53%

Map

Other gauges on the River Ribble

Gauge	Level	Compared with normal	24 hours	Distance
Walton-Le-DaleRiver gauge, River Ribble	0.19 m	Normal	−0.09 m	2.4 km
SamlesburyRiver gauge, River Ribble	1.12 m	Low	−0.09 m	6.4 km
Ribchester SchoolRiver gauge, River Ribble	0.20 m	Normal	−0.08 m	14 km
New Jumbles RockRiver gauge, River Ribble	0.42 m	Normal	−0.05 m	20 km
HenthornRiver gauge, River Ribble	0.52 m	Normal	−0.05 m	22 km
Low MoorRiver gauge, River Ribble	0.52 m	Normal	−0.08 m	24 km
Arnford WeirRiver gauge, River Ribble	0.40 m	Normal	−0.04 m	41 km
Penny BridgeRiver gauge, River Ribble	0.41 m	Normal	−0.04 m	45 km
Locks WeirRiver gauge, River Ribble	0.19 m	Low	−0.03 m	47 km

Nearby gauges

Gauge	Level	Compared with normal	24 hours	Distance
Blue BridgeRiver gauge, River Darwen	0.29 m	Low	−0.04 m	3.7 km
Bamber BridgeRiver gauge, River Lostock	0.14 m	Normal	−0.02 m	4.2 km
Littlewood BridgeRiver gauge, River Lostock	0.52 m	Normal	−0.03 m	9.3 km
Croston DamRiver gauge, River Yarrow	0.95 m	High	±0	10 km
Castle Bridge CrostonRiver gauge, River Yarrow	0.67 m	Low	+0.01 m	11 km
CrostonRiver gauge, River Yarrow	0.30 m	Normal	−0.02 m	11 km
Pincock BrowRiver gauge, River Yarrow	0.11 m	Normal	−0.01 m	11 km
A6 BridgeRiver gauge, River Brock	0.37 m	Normal	−0.01 m	12 km

Questions and answers

Is the river level the same as the depth of the water?

No. The reading is measured from a fixed zero mark at the gauge, so 1.88 m on the gauge does not mean the water is that deep.

What is the water level of Penwortham today?

On 18 Oct 2026, 21:30 BST, the water level was 1.88 m. Steady over the last 24 hours.

Is Penwortham rising or falling?

Steady over the last 24 hours. Down 0.01 m over the last 7 days.

Is the level of Penwortham normal?

Lower than ever recorded here. Compared with the highest and lowest levels the agency has recorded at this gauge.

What is the highest water level ever recorded at Penwortham?

The highest level on record is 6.06 m on April 9, 2024. The lowest is 1.89 m on October 27, 2023.

How often is this data updated?

The Environment Agency publishes a new reading every 15 minutes. This page refreshes within minutes of each update.

Where does this data come from?

The values come directly from the Environment Agency, the official operator of this gauge, and are published under the Open Government Licence v3.0. We do not estimate or model live values.

For specialists

Station codes, datum, parameters, data quality and downloads

Operator: Environment Agency
Station code: ea:713354 (Agency page)
Coordinates: 53.75009, -2.71703 (WGS84)
Vertical datum: station datum
Update interval: every 15 minutes
Licence: Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains Environment Agency data licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0

Published series

Parameter	Last value	Time (UTC)	Quality
Water level	1.88 m	2026-10-18 20:30	Provisional

Download

Embed this gauge

Add a live card for this gauge to your website. It updates on its own and links back here.

<iframe src="https://nivelmap.com/embed/2628?lang=en" width="360" height="230" style="border:0;max-width:100%" loading="lazy" title="Penwortham water level"></iframe>

How to cite

Environment Agency: Penwortham (ea:713354). Accessed October 18, 2026 via Nivelmap, https://nivelmap.com/en/united-kingdom/lancashire/penwortham

How we check values

Each reading is stored as published. We hold back values that jump faster than physically plausible and show the measurement time with every value.

Readings are provisional, can be delayed or wrong and are not a flood warning. Read the disclaimer