Saluda River below Lake Murray Dam near Columbia, SC 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 02168504 sits on the Saluda River and reads everything draining 2,420 square miles of the Saluda basin. Its datum sits 168 feet above sea level NAVD88. Daily flow has been on record here since 1989, 38 years of it.

Where this gauge sits in the drainage

Lake Murray near Columbia, SC sits immediately upstream, so dam releases rather than rainfall set the flow here. One gauged site sits upstream of here. The closest is Saluda River at Chappells, SC, reading 1,360 square miles. This gauge adds the 1,060 square miles that drain in between. Downstream the next reading comes from Saluda River near Columbia, SC at 2,520 square miles, so what passes this gauge is about 96% of the water measured there. Water passing here goes on to Congaree River at Columbia, SC and Congaree River at Congaree Np near Gadsden, SC.

Normal flows here

The Saluda River runs a median of 1,085 cfs at this gauge across 38 years of record. January is the fullest month at a median 1,860 cfs, and July the leanest at 845 cfs. The highest daily mean on record is 28,300 cfs in 2016, and the lowest is 155 cfs in 1989.

Medians from the USGS daily-statistics record, 1989 to 2026. A month at 100% is running at its own long-term median.

Flood stages and record crests

The highest crest on record is 27.5 feet, in October 2015.

Flood categories and crest history from the NOAA National Water Prediction Service, gauge MURS1. Stages are gage height, not depth. Not for navigation.