Smith River near Philpott, 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 02072000 sits on the Smith River and reads everything draining 215 square miles of the Upper Dan basin. Its datum sits 803 feet above sea level NAVD88. Daily flow has been on record here since 1951, 76 years of it.

Where this gauge sits in the drainage

Philpott Res at Philpott Dam near Philpott, VA sits immediately upstream, so dam releases rather than rainfall set the flow here. Two gauged sites sit upstream of here. The closest is Philpott Res at Philpott Dam near Philpott, VA, reading 214 square miles. Downstream the next reading comes from Smith River at Bassett, VA at 259 square miles, so what passes this gauge is about 83% of the water measured there. Water passing here goes on to Smith River at Martinsville, VA and Smith River at Eden, NC.

Normal flows here

The Smith River runs a median of 234 cfs at this gauge across 76 years of record. July is the fullest month at a median 276 cfs, and November the leanest at 163 cfs. The highest daily mean on record is 6,000 cfs in 2016, and the lowest is 20 cfs in 1984.

Medians from the USGS daily-statistics record, 1951 to 2026. A month at 100% is running at its own long-term median.