James River at Buchanan, 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 02019500 sits on the James River and reads everything draining 2,073 square miles of the Upper James basin. Its datum sits 802 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

One gauged site sits upstream of here. The closest is James River at Lick Run, VA, reading 1,371 square miles. This gauge adds the 702 square miles that drain in between. Downstream the next reading comes from James River at Bedford Dam near Major, VA at 3,070 square miles, so what passes this gauge is about 68% of the water measured there. Water passing here goes on to James River at Blue Ridge Pkwy near Big Island, VA and James River at Holcomb Rock, VA. It then enters Resuens Reservoir near Lynchburg, VA, below which releases set the flow.

Normal flows here

The James River runs a median of 1,375 cfs at this gauge across 47 years of record. March is the fullest month at a median 2,900 cfs, and October the leanest at 618 cfs. The highest daily mean on record is 102,000 cfs in 1986, and the lowest is 257 cfs in 1982.

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