TidalMapWatauga River at Elizabethton Flow & Water Level
NWS river forecast
| When | Stage | Flow |
|---|
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 03486000 sits on the Watauga River and reads everything draining 692 square miles of the Watauga basin. Its datum sits 1,486 feet above sea level NAVD88. Daily flow has been on record here since 2017, 9 years of it.
Where this gauge sits in the drainage
Three gauged sites sit upstream of here. The closest is Watauga River below Wilbur Dam, TN, reading 471 square miles. This gauge adds the 221 square miles that drain in between. Downstream the next reading comes from Boone Lake at 1,840 square miles, so what passes this gauge is about 38% of the water measured there.
Normal flows here
The Watauga River runs a median of 967 cfs at this gauge across 9 years of record. February is the fullest month at a median 2,010 cfs, and September the leanest at 484 cfs. The highest daily mean on record is 12,000 cfs in 2024, and the lowest is 315 cfs in 2020.
| Month | Median flow | Share of annual median |
|---|---|---|
| Jan | 1,280 cfs | 132% |
| Feb | 2,010 cfs | 208% |
| Mar | 1,450 cfs | 150% |
| Apr | 1,040 cfs | 108% |
| May | 1,300 cfs | 134% |
| Jun | 983 cfs | 102% |
| Jul | 826 cfs | 85% |
| Aug | 997 cfs | 103% |
| Sep | 484 cfs | 50% |
| Oct | 662 cfs | 68% |
| Nov | 847 cfs | 88% |
| Dec | 922 cfs | 95% |
Medians from the USGS daily-statistics record, 2017 to 2026. A month at 100% is running at its own long-term median.
TVA dams near this gauge
TVA's Wilbur Dam is 5 miles from this gauge on the Watauga system. Planned generation, lake level and tailwater elevation for it load below when TVA has published them.
- Wilbur Dam 5 miles
- Watauga Dam 5 miles
- Boone Dam 14 miles
- South Holston Dam 14 miles
Nearby river gauges
- Doe River at Elizabethton, TN
- Watauga River below Wilbur Dam
- Watauga River below Watauga Dam
- South Fork Holston below South Holston Dam
- Nolichucky River at Embreeville, TN
- Buckeye Creek below Buckeye Lake near Cannon Gap, NC
- Buckeye Creek above Buckeye Lake near Cannon Gap, NC
- Watauga River near Sugar Grove, NC
- Big Limestone Creek near Limestone, TN
- South Toe River near Celo, NC
- Linville River near Nebo, NC
- North Fork Swannanoa River near Walkertown, NC
Live streamflow and gage height: USGS gauge 03486000. Percentile context computed against the gauge's period of record. Not for navigation.
Open Watauga River at Elizabethton on the live chart →
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