Elkhorn Creek near Frankfort, 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 03289500 sits on Elkhorn Creek and reads everything draining 473 square miles of the Lower Kentucky basin. Only 402 square miles of that contributes flow in a normal year; the rest is closed basin that does not drain to the river. Its datum sits 540 feet above sea level NAVD88. Daily flow has been on record here since 1916, 86 years of it.

Where this gauge sits in the drainage

One gauged site sits upstream of here. The closest is North Elkhorn Creek at Georgetown, KY, reading 147 square miles. This gauge adds the 326 square miles that drain in between. Downstream the next reading comes from Kentucky River at Lock 2 at Lockport, KY at 6,180 square miles, so what passes this gauge is about 8% of the water measured there.

Normal flows here

Elkhorn Creek runs a median of 237 cfs at this gauge across 86 years of record. March is the fullest month at a median 796 cfs, and September the leanest at 62 cfs. The highest daily mean on record is 25,000 cfs in 1989, and the lowest is 0.0 cfs in 1940.

Medians from the USGS daily-statistics record, 1916 to 2026. A month at 100% is running at its own long-term median.

Flood stages and record crests

Elkhorn Creek reaches flood stage at this gauge at 10 feet. NWS starts watching it at 8 feet. The highest crest on record is 18 feet, in March 1997.

Flood categories and crest history from the NOAA National Water Prediction Service, gauge PKMK2. Stages are gage height, not depth. Not for navigation.