South Fork Roanoke River near Shawsville, 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 02053800 sits on the South Fork Roanoke River and reads everything draining 109 square miles of the Upper Roanoke basin. Its datum sits 1,364 feet above sea level NAVD88. Daily flow has been on record here since 1961, 65 years of it.

Where this gauge sits in the drainage

No gauged site sits above this one on the mainstem, so this is the first published reading on the river. Downstream the next reading comes from Roanoke River at Lafayette, VA at 254 square miles, so what passes this gauge is about 43% of the water measured there. Water passing here goes on to Roanoke River at Glenvar, VA, Roanoke River at Roanoke, VA and Roanoke River at Niagara, VA.

Normal flows here

The South Fork Roanoke River runs a median of 71 cfs at this gauge across 65 years of record. March is the fullest month at a median 135 cfs, and September the leanest at 32 cfs. The highest daily mean on record is 6,840 cfs in 1972, and the lowest is 7.0 cfs in 2002.

Medians from the USGS daily-statistics record, 1961 to 2026. A month at 100% is running at its own long-term median.