Chestnut Creek at Galax, VA Water Level Today

NWS river forecast

Forecast from the NOAA National Water Prediction Service. Issued a few times a day and only while a forecast is active. Not for navigation.

Last 30 days

About this gauge

USGS gauge 03165000 sits on Chestnut Creek and reads everything draining 39 square miles of the Upper New basin. Its datum sits 2,345 feet above sea level NAVD88. Daily flow has been on record here since 1945, 81 years of it.

Where this gauge sits in the drainage

No gauged site sits above this one on the mainstem, so this is the first published reading on the river. Downstream the next reading comes from New River at Ivanhoe, VA at 1,350 square miles, so what passes this gauge is about 3% of the water measured there. Water passing here goes on to New River at Allisonia, VA.

Normal flows here

Chestnut Creek runs a median of 56 cfs at this gauge across 81 years of record. March is the fullest month at a median 72 cfs, and September the leanest at 37 cfs. The highest daily mean on record is 2,940 cfs in 2024, and the lowest is 10 cfs in 2008.

Medians from the USGS daily-statistics record, 1945 to 2026. A month at 100% is running at its own long-term median.