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Stinsford water level

River gauge, River Frome, Dorset, United Kingdom

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Right now

Lower than ever recorded here

Water level

0.03m Steady over the last 24 hours

0.0 0.5 1.0 Highest onrecord 1.24 m Lowest on record 0.05 m

History

History
-0.00.20.4mOct 11Oct 12Oct 14Oct 16Oct 18Top of normal rangeBottom of normal range-0.00.20.4mOct 11Oct 14Oct 18Top of normal rangeBottom of normal range
-0.00.20.4mSep 18Sep 25Oct 3Oct 10Oct 18Top of normal rangeBottom of normal range-0.00.20.4mSep 18Oct 3Oct 18Top of normal rangeBottom of normal range
-0.00.51.0mOct 2025Jan 2026Apr 2026Jul 2026Oct 2026Top of normal rangeBottom of normal range-0.00.51.0mOct 2025Apr 2026Oct 2026Top of normal rangeBottom of normal range
-0.00.51.0mJanMarMayJulSepNov2026-0.00.51.0mJanAprJulOct2026

20252026

Water level Normal range (10–90 %) Top of normal rangeBottom of normal range

What this means

At 0.03 m, the River Frome at Stinsford is at a record low.

It has now dropped past the published record low of 0.05 m (October 17, 2011). That puts it 0.10 m below the median of 0.13 m for mid-October, based on 21 years of readings. A year ago it stood at 0.06 m (−0.02 m).

The level has held steady over the past 24 hours. Without real rain upstream, that is unlikely to change quickly. Over the past 30 days it has moved between 0.03 m and 0.04 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

Median for this date
0.13 m0.10 m below the median for this date
Normal for this date
0.06 m – 0.31 m8 years in 10 fall in this range (21 years of records)
Normal range
0.10 m – 0.50 m
Same day last year
0.06 m−0.02 m
Lowest and highest in 30 days
0.03 m – 0.04 m
Lowest and highest in 12 months
0.03 m – 1.01 m
Highest on record
1.24 mJanuary 27, 2026
Lowest on record
0.05 mOctober 17, 2011
Lowest on record
0.02 m below the lowest level on record

On the river at Stinsford

Low, clear water makes fish wary, and anglers often do better early and late in the day. For canoeists, shallow riffles mean scraped hulls and the odd portage.

Flood warnings for the area come from the Environment Agency.

About the River Frome

River Frome, Dorset

The River Frome is a river in Dorset in the south of England. At 30 miles (48 km) long it is the major chalkstream in southwest England. It is navigable upstream from Poole Harbour as far as the town of Wareham.

Read more on Wikipedia

Text and image from Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA.

Weather at the gauge

Rain in the last 3 days: 3.7 mm. Rain that falls upstream can take hours or days to show up at a river gauge.

17 Sat 14° 6° – Wind 21 km/h
18 Sun 13° 6° 0.5 mm Wind 22 km/h
19 Mon 14° 8° 0.2 mm, 69% Wind 22 km/h
20 Tue 13° 9° 5.4 mm, 69% Wind 14 km/h
21 Wed 15° 8° 0.9 mm, 75% Wind 31 km/h
22 Thu 14° 6° 8.9 mm, 86% Wind 22 km/h
23 Fri 13° 8° 33 mm, 88% Wind 39 km/h

Forecast: Open-Meteo

Sunrise 07:38 AM Sunset 06:13 PM Daylight 10 hr, 36 min First quarter 46%

Map

Other gauges on the River Frome

Gauge Level Compared with normal 24 hours Distance
Louds MillRiver gauge, River Frome 0.07 m Low ±0 0.5 km
Maiden NewtonRiver gauge, River Frome 0.19 m Low ±0 13 km
East StokeRiver gauge, River Frome 0.53 m Very low −0.01 m 16 km
Bristol Wade StreetRiver gauge, River Frome 5.97 m No reference yet −0.03 m 84 km

Nearby gauges

Gauge Level Compared with normal 24 hours Distance
Ridge WayGroundwater well 56.85 m Very low ±0 3.7 km
Bank BarrowGroundwater well 44.90 m Low −0.01 m 5.6 km
Ashton FarmGroundwater well 63.68 m Lowest on record −0.01 m 5.7 km
Little PuddleRiver gauge, River Piddle 0.06 m Very low ±0 5.8 km
Puddletown Riverside CourtRiver gauge, River Piddle 0.05 m Normal ±0 5.9 km
Puddletown North BrookRiver gauge, River Piddle 0.12 m Normal −0.01 m 6.0 km
Upwey CulvertRiver gauge, River Wey −0.02 m Lowest on record ±0 7.5 km
UpweyRiver gauge, River Wey 0.13 m Normal +0.02 m 7.5 km

Questions and answers

How does the River Frome at Stinsford compare with last year?

It is 0.02 m lower than on the same day last year, when the reading was 0.06 m.

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 0.03 m on the gauge does not mean the water is that deep.

What is the water level of Stinsford today?

On 18 Oct 2026, 04:15 BST, the water level was 0.03 m. Steady over the last 24 hours.

Is Stinsford rising or falling?

Steady over the last 24 hours. Steady over the last 7 days.

Is the level of Stinsford 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 Stinsford?

The highest level on record is 1.24 m on January 27, 2026. The lowest is 0.05 m on October 17, 2011.

How often is this data updated?

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

For specialists

Station codes, datum, parameters, data quality and downloads
Operator
Environment Agency
Station code
ea:44217 (Agency page)
Coordinates
50.71564, -2.40921 (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

ParameterLast valueTime (UTC)Quality
Water level 0.03 m 2026-10-18 03:15 Provisional

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Embed this gauge

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How to cite

Environment Agency: Stinsford (ea:44217). Accessed October 18, 2026 via Nivelmap, https://nivelmap.com/en/united-kingdom/dorset/stinsford

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.