Favorite River Gage Websites
 

Besides saving links to most of the river gages in this area that are of interest to me I often look at some other sites for quick information. I have listed some sites below but I bet there are others.

Do you know of any useful or cool websites? Please share.

-KenM
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USGS list of all Ohio River Gages

https://waterdata.usgs.gov/OH/nwis/current/?type=flow

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USGS Waterwatch Real-time Streamflow (Ohio) clickable map

https://waterwatch.usgs.gov/?m=real&r=oh

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National Weather Service Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service
Regional map with river gages shown. Hover on gage or click for more info.

http://water.weather.gov/ahps2/index.php?wfo=pbz://
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U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Pittsburgh
Water levels for our local Army Corps lakes click on..... Daily Reservoir and Forecast or Reservoir Plots

http://www.lrp.usace.army.mil/Missio...voir-Forecast/

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Canoeable Streams in Western PA
Unfortunately this seems to no longer be functional
http://www.learningdesign.com/cgi-local/rivergage

A useful project would be to establish minimum (paddling zero) and maximum (for safety) flows/gage heights for the rivers that the club paddles.

The Shaw-Weil "Canoeing Guide to Western Pennsylvania" probably has a good deal of that info. It's almost impossible to find a print copy of this book now, since it's been over 20 years since the last printing. There was a pre-print version online for free, but it appears to be gone now.

I could check my copy and relay the info there to the group if I knew what rivers/creeks you're interested in.

I can tell you the minimum flow for Little Beaver Creek is about 400 cfs, and the minimum for Clarion River is also about 400 cfs (Cooksburg PA USGS gauge).

Steve Z

Favorite River Guages
 

For easy access to your riverflow data try the smartphone app "RiverFlows" by Subalpine Technologies, LLC. This is a free app that lets you choose which guage listings and which data you want. Set it up and a simple press on the app will give you all your current data on the list. It will show USGS, AHPS and others.

Lo and behold, the Shaw-Weil guide is still online, though the data has been redacted from the river and stream segment narratives....Here's the link: http://canoe.shaw-weil.com You have to follow a link or two and type "I agree" to get to the narratives.

However, the redacted data, including high and low flows, are given on a separate page: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~shaw/CGparts/alpha.html

Does anyone know of high and low flow data for Ohio rivers and streams?

1) Shaw-Weil "Canoeing Guide to Western Pennsylvania"____ You can still find (used) 1991 edition on Amazon for about $15. does not appear that the 2005/2008 edition ever got published.

2) If anyone remembers the link to the streams of western PA (which is now defunct) showed all the rivers in the book on a spreadsheet like page, updated in real time apparently from river gages, and highlighted as runable or not. I always assumed they used the criteria from the book. Very cool. Sorry it's gone.

3) JT... The best over-all info and coverage of Ohio streams ( that I am aware of ) is below. These two 1983** volumes are classics. They are dated to be sure but still offer a wealth if information with write ups and maps. Each Volume covers about 30 rivers. These authors must have lived on the rivers. Used books are still on Amazon.

** Yikes...these are probably older than half of TCT members!

vol 1 = NW, SW, Scioto drainage vol 2 = NE, East, Muskingum drainage, S. Central
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A Canoeing and Kayaking Guide to the Streams of Ohio Volume 1 and 2
(Menasha Ridge Press Guidebooks) Paperback ? August, 1983 by Richard Combs (Author), Stephen E. Gillen (Author)

https://www.amazon.com/Canoeing-Kaya.../dp/0897320123

Combs and Gillen @1994
 

The two 1983 volumes by Combs and Gillen were consolidated into a single volume in 1994. (Don't know if there is a later edition.) Unless it is included in the narratives of the various rivers, there does not appear to be flow/gage height information in the 1994 edition.

1983 Combs and Gillen.....

Some of the Ohio rivers have a minimum runable CFS listed.
Some say N/A (not available ? or not applicable ?)
The max if noted is listed as "Max Flood Stage".

Not all of the rivers levels are noted.

I've never seen a 1994 edition and wonder if it had been revised?

-Ken

I've never seen the 1983 volumes, so I don't know the extent of changes to the 1994 edition. In a cursory look through some of the river descriptions, I found only one instance where a CFS rate is mentioned (Paint Creek), though there could be others. Flow or stage height is not given as a standard piece of information for stream profiles in the 1994 edition.

I have also been using these gauges.
Before I joined the club I took wild guesses. Now I know where to look and what to look for. Thank you JP for showing me and getting me in a habit of recording paddles to look back on for future paddles

I have a copy of the 1990 Canoeing Guide Western PA and Northern WV

I also have a copy of Canoeing & Kayaking Ohio's Streams 1994 copy

I picked a copy of Canoeing & kayaking guide to Kentucky when I did Cumberland falls in 2012

Thanks again, great topic
Mike