Kentucky River at Lock 4 at 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 03287500 sits on the Kentucky River and reads everything draining 5,411 square miles of the Lower Kentucky basin. Only 5,292 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 462 feet above sea level NAVD88. Daily flow has been on record here since 1977, 49 years of it.

Where this gauge sits in the drainage

Two gauged sites sit upstream of here. The closest is Kentucky River at Lock 5 near Tyrone, KY, reading 5,225 square miles. This gauge adds the 186 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 88% of the water measured there.

Normal flows here

The Kentucky River runs a median of 3,490 cfs at this gauge across 49 years of record. March is the fullest month at a median 10,800 cfs, and September the leanest at 804 cfs. The highest daily mean on record is 116,000 cfs in 1979, and the lowest is 71 cfs in 2008.

Medians from the USGS daily-statistics record, 1977 to 2025. A month at 100% is running at its own long-term median.

Flood stages and record crests

The Kentucky River reaches flood stage at this gauge at 31 feet. NWS starts watching it at 29 feet. The highest crest on record is 48.5 feet, in December 1978.

Flood categories and crest history from the NOAA National Water Prediction Service, gauge FFTK2. Stages are gage height, not depth. Not for navigation.