Cumberland River at Cumberland Falls, KY 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 03404500 sits on the Cumberland River and reads everything draining 1,977 square miles of the Upper Cumberland basin. Its datum sits 825 feet above sea level NAVD88. Daily flow is on record here from 1908 to 2024, 99 years in all.

Where this gauge sits in the drainage

One gauged site sits upstream of here. The closest is Cumberland River at Williamsburg, KY, reading 1,607 square miles. This gauge adds the 370 square miles that drain in between. Downstream the next reading comes from Lake Cumberland at Burnside, KY at 4,869 square miles, so what passes this gauge is about 41% of the water measured there.

Normal flows here

The Cumberland River runs a median of 1,290 cfs at this gauge across 99 years of record. March is the fullest month at a median 4,450 cfs, and September the leanest at 276 cfs. The highest daily mean on record is 57,500 cfs in 1918, and the lowest is 4.0 cfs in 1954.

Medians from the USGS daily-statistics record, 1908 to 2024. A month at 100% is running at its own long-term median. USGS stopped publishing a daily flow record at this gauge, so these are historical norms, not a baseline for current readings.

Flood stages and record crests

The highest crest on record is 14.7 feet, in May 1984.

Flood categories and crest history from the NOAA National Water Prediction Service, gauge CFAK2. Stages are gage height, not depth. Not for navigation.