Dan River near Francisco, NC Flow & Water Level

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 02068500 sits on the Dan River and reads everything draining 129 square miles of the Upper Dan basin. Its datum sits 831 feet above sea level NAVD88. Daily flow has been on record here since 1938, 84 years of it.

Where this gauge sits in the drainage

Two gauged sites sit upstream of here. The closest is Talbott Reservoir near Vesta, VA, reading 40 square miles. This gauge adds the 89 square miles that drain in between. Downstream the next reading comes from Dan River at Pine Hall, NC at 501 square miles, so what passes this gauge is about 26% of the water measured there.

Normal flows here

The Dan River runs a median of 155 cfs at this gauge across 84 years of record. April is the fullest month at a median 209 cfs, and September the leanest at 110 cfs. The highest daily mean on record is 6,830 cfs in 1979, and the lowest is 21 cfs in 1999.

Medians from the USGS daily-statistics record, 1938 to 2026. A month at 100% is running at its own long-term median.