Old Catawba River below Catawba Dam near Bridgewater, 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 02138816 sits on the Old Catawba River and reads everything draining 294 square miles of the Upper Catawba basin. Its datum sits 1,079 feet above sea level NAVD88. Daily flow has been on record here since 2018, 9 years of it.

Where this gauge sits in the drainage

One gauged site sits upstream of here. The closest is Catawba River near Pleasant Gardens, NC, reading 126 square miles. This gauge adds the 168 square miles that drain in between. Downstream the next reading comes from Catawba River near Granite Falls, NC at 1,070 square miles, so what passes this gauge is about 27% of the water measured there. Water passing here goes on to Catawba River at Rhodhiss, NC.

Normal flows here

The Old Catawba River runs a median of 81 cfs at this gauge across 9 years of record. June is the fullest month at a median 84 cfs, and October the leanest at 60 cfs. The highest daily mean on record is 17,700 cfs in 2024, and the lowest is 13 cfs in 2026.

Medians from the USGS daily-statistics record, 2018 to 2026. A month at 100% is running at its own long-term median.