Submitted by Steve Turner on
Daily flow data for the water year 2022/2023 are now available to download from the National River Flow Archive (NRFA) for most stations in the UK. This annual update contains new record flows for a number of stations, shown on the map below. It displays new record low flows (minimum daily flows) in red and new record high flows (maximum daily flows) shown in blue.
In summer 2022, a severe drought in the UK led to many new low flow records, and in this new water year that starts 01 October 2022, the lowest flows on record are captured at some sites nearing the end of the drought, particularly in northern and western areas. For more information about the 2022 drought, read the National Hydrological Monitoring Programme open access Weather paper. In the water year 2022/2023, there were also new high flow records, with many being registered in eastern Scotland following the heavy rain on the 18th November 2022. North East Scotland was battered by heavy rain during this period causing flooding, power and transport disruption - read more in our November 2022 Hydrological Summary.
Quality controlled daily mean flow data at all active stations have been updated on the archive up until 30 September 2023. Where more recent river flow data are required, users may be able to source this by contacting the relevant Measuring Authority, or by looking at the Live data tab which is available for most stations in England and Scotland.
For the yearly update of data, the daily flow data are provided to the NRFA by Measuring Authorities through an annual submission programme. Data for each water year are normally submitted to the NRFA the following spring, after which they undergo a detailed quality control process before being added to the national archive.
Peak flow data (AMAX and POT) for water year 2022/2023 have also been updated. The most recent release of files for use in WINFAP are available to download from our website.
