Jackson River below Gathright Dam near Hot Springs, 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 02011800 sits on the Jackson River and reads everything draining 345 square miles of the Upper James basin. Its datum sits 1,400 feet above sea level NAVD88. Daily flow has been on record here since 1980, 47 years of it.

Where this gauge sits in the drainage

Lake Moomaw near Hot Springs, VA sits immediately upstream, so dam releases rather than rainfall set the flow here. Three gauged sites sit upstream of here. The closest is Lake Moomaw (Central) near Hot Springs, VA, reading 324 square miles. This gauge adds the 21 square miles that drain in between. Downstream the next reading comes from Jackson River at Falling Spring, VA at 410 square miles, so what passes this gauge is about 84% of the water measured there. Water passing here goes on to Jackson River below Dunlap Creek at Covington, VA and James River at Lick Run, VA.

Normal flows here

The Jackson River runs a median of 269 cfs at this gauge across 47 years of record. March is the fullest month at a median 508 cfs, and November the leanest at 161 cfs. The highest daily mean on record is 8,670 cfs in 1986, and the lowest is 47 cfs in 1981.

Medians from the USGS daily-statistics record, 1980 to 2026. A month at 100% is running at its own long-term median.