Mcalpine Creek at Sardis Road near Charlotte, 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 02146600 sits on Mcalpine Creek and reads everything draining 39 square miles of the Lower Catawba basin. Its datum sits 552 feet above sea level NAVD88. Daily flow has been on record here since 1962, 64 years of it.

Where this gauge sits in the drainage

One gauged site sits upstream of here. The closest is Mcalpine Creek at Sr3150 near Idlewild, NC, reading 7.3 square miles. This gauge adds the 31 square miles that drain in between. Downstream the next reading comes from Mcalpine Creek at Colony Rd near Olde Providence, NC at 47 square miles, so what passes this gauge is about 82% of the water measured there. Water passing here goes on to Mcalpine Creek below Mcmullen Creek near Pineville, NC.

Normal flows here

Mcalpine Creek runs a median of 10 cfs at this gauge across 64 years of record. February is the fullest month at a median 24 cfs, and October the leanest at 5.1 cfs. The highest daily mean on record is 4,490 cfs in 1995, and the lowest is 0.0 cfs in 2018.

Medians from the USGS daily-statistics record, 1962 to 2026. A month at 100% is running at its own long-term median.

Flood stages and record crests

Mcalpine Creek reaches flood stage at this gauge at 20 feet. NWS starts watching it at 14 feet. The highest crest on record is 17.8 feet, in August 1995.

Flood categories and crest history from the NOAA National Water Prediction Service, gauge MALN7. Stages are gage height, not depth. Not for navigation.