Kentucky River at Lock 5 near Tyrone, 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 03287250 sits on the Kentucky River and reads everything draining 5,225 square miles of the Lower Kentucky basin. Only 5,113 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 473 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

Two gauged sites sit upstream of here. The closest is Kentucky River at Lock 6 near Salvisa, KY, reading 5,102 square miles. This gauge adds the 123 square miles that drain in between. Downstream the next reading comes from Kentucky River at Lock 4 at Frankfort, KY at 5,411 square miles, so what passes this gauge is about 97% of the water measured there.

Normal flows here

The Kentucky River runs a median of 2,960 cfs at this gauge across 22 years of record. March is the fullest month at a median 11,400 cfs, and September the leanest at 848 cfs. The highest daily mean on record is 116,000 cfs in 2025, and the lowest is 109 cfs in 2008.

Medians from the USGS daily-statistics record, 2004 to 2025. A month at 100% is running at its own long-term median.

Flood stages and record crests

The highest crest on record is 55.2 feet, in April 1972.

Flood categories and crest history from the NOAA National Water Prediction Service, gauge TYRK2. Stages are gage height, not depth. Not for navigation.