Gum Branch near Thrift, 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 02142914 sits on Gum Branch and reads everything draining 5.3 square miles of the Upper Catawba basin. Its datum sits 631 feet above sea level NAVD88. Daily flow has been on record here since 2004, 22 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 Long Creek near Rhyne, NC at 32 square miles, so what passes this gauge is about 17% of the water measured there. It then enters Catawba River below U.s Highways 29/74 at Belmont, NC, below which releases set the flow.

Normal flows here

Gum Branch runs a median of 1.3 cfs at this gauge across 22 years of record. March is the fullest month at a median 2.7 cfs, and October the leanest at 0.6 cfs. The highest daily mean on record is 871 cfs in 2024, and the lowest is 0.0 cfs in 2018.

Medians from the USGS daily-statistics record, 2004 to 2026. A month at 100% is running at its own long-term median.

Flood stages and record crests

Gum Branch reaches flood stage at this gauge at 10 feet. NWS starts watching it at 9 feet. The highest crest on record is 10.8 feet, in August 2008.

Flood categories and crest history from the NOAA National Water Prediction Service, gauge GBRN7. Stages are gage height, not depth. Not for navigation.