Buffalo Bayou at W Belt Dr, Houston water level

What this means

Low water at Buffalo Bayou at W Belt Dr, Houston: the gauge reads 35.20 ft, far below normal for mid-October.

The median for mid-October is 38.51 ft, based on 30 years of readings, so the river stage is 3.31 ft below typical. It is 27.00 ft below the flood stage of 62.20 ft. On the same day last year the reading was 34.96 ft, a difference of +0.24 ft.

It is still going down, by 0.16 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 30 years of daily readings for this time of year. How to read levels

Key numbers

Median for this date

38.51 ft3.31 ft below the median for this date

Normal for this date

35.26 ft – 48.64 ft8 years in 10 fall in this range (30 years of records)

Same day last year

34.96 ft+0.24 ft

Lowest and highest in 30 days

34.83 ft – 42.62 ft

Lowest and highest in 12 months

34.66 ft – 42.99 ft

Highest on record

71.22 ftAugust 31, 2017