River Gauge Readings (Full Observed Series)

Every observed stage and flow reading at every NWS river gauge, at each gauge's own reporting interval (usually 15 minutes, 5 at some): stage in feet and flow in cubic feet per second.

NOAA NWPSInfrastructure data ERCOT market NYISO market CAISO market PJM market MISO market ISO-NE market SPP market

Open in Data Ask the agent

One row per: river gauge x observed reading; 15-minute cadence
Evidence: Observed market data; Published observations from the named source
Time basis: Point-in-time records; UTC · observed_at

Overview

This is the complete observed record; the 15-minute gauge snapshots keep only the latest reading at each snapshot and miss readings from gauges that transmit in batches. Flow is the physical driver of hydroelectric output, and a gauge upstream of a dam leads the plant by the river's travel time. Stage is relative to each gauge's own datum and is not comparable between gauges; flow is. Source: NOAA National Water Prediction Service.

Query contract: Keep one row per (lid, observed_at); take argMax(value, ingested_at) where a reading was loaded twice.
Analysis rules: Compare flow_cfs across gauges, never stage_ft: stage is relative to each gauge's own datum.Reporting intervals differ by gauge; resample to a common step before comparing gauges.
Interpretation: A gauge near a plant is not necessarily on the plant's river. Name the gauge and the distance rather than asserting the plant's inflow.Readings are provisional and can be revised by the operating agency.

Access

Download: Query it in SQL, download it, or read it with an API key. Download data
MCP: Connect an MCP client and load the contract with describe_data before calling query_data.ERCOT MCP CAISO MCP NYISO MCP PJM MCP SPP MCP MISO MCP ISO-NE MCP BPA MCP API reference
HTTP endpoint: POST /api/v1/datasets/nwps_observations/query
Full history: Delivered to Snowflake, Databricks or your own storage on a schedule by Data services.
More coverage

Schema

5 columns

Column	Type
`lid`	`LowCardinality(String)`
`observed_at`	`DateTime64(6, 'UTC')`
`stage_ft`	`Nullable(Float64)`
`flow_cfs`	`Nullable(Float64)`
`ingested_at`	`DateTime64(6, 'UTC')`

Sample data

lid	observed_at	stage_ft	flow_cfs	ingested_at
MCWN7	2026-11-03 09:50:00.000000	8.01	∅	2026-11-03 09:59:46.115213
MCIT1	2026-11-03 09:50:00.000000	0.46	∅	2026-11-03 09:59:46.115213
MCBT1	2026-11-03 09:50:00.000000	1.01	∅	2026-11-03 09:59:46.115213
MCTO3	2026-11-03 09:50:00.000000	6.43	53.400000000000006	2026-11-03 09:59:46.115213
MLLN7	2026-11-03 09:50:00.000000	7.12	∅	2026-11-03 10:00:55.438999
MICN7	2026-11-03 09:50:00.000000	0.91	∅	2026-11-03 09:59:58.152883
MRLV2	2026-11-03 09:50:00.000000	0.17	∅	2026-11-03 10:02:04.969094
MSSO3	2026-11-03 09:50:00.000000	2.4	0	2026-11-03 10:02:04.969094
NELN7	2026-11-03 09:50:00.000000	0.98	∅	2026-11-03 10:03:32.342916
NCRW1	2026-11-03 09:50:00.000000	0.79	∅	2026-11-03 10:03:32.342916
NAGN7	2026-11-03 09:50:00.000000	-0.23	∅	2026-11-03 10:03:01.139131
NASP4	2026-11-03 09:50:00.000000	6.85	0	2026-11-03 10:03:01.139131
OCOT2	2026-11-03 09:50:00.000000	1.73	∅	2026-11-03 10:04:02.595075
OKRS1	2026-11-03 09:50:00.000000	7.6	∅	2026-11-03 10:04:02.595075
ODCT2	2026-11-03 09:50:00.000000	3.73	∅	2026-11-03 10:04:02.595075
NSFN7	2026-11-03 09:50:00.000000	6.65	∅	2026-11-03 10:03:47.320354
NNRN7	2026-11-03 09:50:00.000000	3.12	∅	2026-11-03 10:03:47.320354
ORBT2	2026-11-03 09:50:00.000000	1.52	∅	2026-11-03 10:04:21.083386
PBPV2	2026-11-03 09:50:00.000000	0.33	∅	2026-11-03 10:04:38.373259
PKCN7	2026-11-03 09:50:00.000000	5.25	∅	2026-11-03 10:05:00.435168
PCKN7	2026-11-03 09:50:00.000000	-0.38	∅	2026-11-03 10:04:38.373259
PCCM5	2026-11-03 09:50:00.000000	36.15	∅	2026-11-03 10:04:38.373259
PCGV2	2026-11-03 09:50:00.000000	0.17	∅	2026-11-03 10:04:38.373259
POMN4	2026-11-03 09:50:00.000000	0.64	∅	2026-11-03 10:05:11.906153
PSUV2	2026-11-03 09:50:00.000000	1.39	∅	2026-11-03 10:05:23.624430

Coverage

Complete: 100.0%
Gap days: 0
Days with data: 76

Show coverage history

Coverage: 100.0%Days with data: 76Gaps: 0

2026

gaplessmore

Related data

Related infrastructure data
Dataset	Description
River Forecasts (Official Hydrographs)NOAA NWPS · hourly (as issued)	The official River Forecast Center hydrograph at every NWS forecast point, one row per issuance and valid time: forecast stage in feet and flow in cubic feet per second, typically six-hourly steps several days ahead. Every issuance is kept, so the latest issued_at at or before a moment is the forecast as it stood then, and comparing issuances shows how a crest forecast moved. Flow forecast at a gauge upstream of a dam is a forecast of the plant's water; a crest above flood stage is a forecast of riverside exposure. Source: NOAA National Water Prediction Service.
River Gauge Registry (Flood Thresholds)NOAA NWPS · daily	The reference record for every NWS river gauge, refreshed daily: whether its flood thresholds are rated on stage or flow, the action, minor, moderate, and major thresholds, the low-water line, the USGS site number where USGS runs the gauge, whether it is an official forecast point, and the county, state, and River Forecast Center. Join it to the gauge snapshots on lid to express a reading as distance from flood stage, and use the USGS site number to reach 15-minute discharge history. Source: NOAA National Water Prediction Service.
River Gauges (Stage, Flow, Flood Status)NOAA NWPS · 15-minute snapshot	Every river gauge the National Weather Service tracks, about 12,900 nationwide, snapshotted every 15 minutes: the latest observed stage in feet, flow in cubic feet per second, the NWS flood category (normal, action, minor, moderate, major, or low water), and, at the roughly one gauge in five that is a forecast point, the crest of the official River Forecast Center forecast with its time and flood category. Streamflow is the physical driver of hydroelectric output, low water and warm rivers constrain thermal-plant cooling, and a river at flood stage marks substation and line exposure, so the gauges are a grid signal wherever a market has hydro or riverside infrastructure. Stage is measured against each gauge's own datum and is not comparable between gauges; flow is. Source: NOAA National Water Prediction Service.
Advanced MetersEIA · annual (report year)	EIA-861 advanced metering: AMR, AMI and other meter counts, AMI energy served and customer access, by utility and customer class. Advanced_Meters, one row per utility, state, balancing authority and customer class. customer_class is residential, commercial, industrial, transportation (direct_connected in the distributed generation tables) or EIA's own total, so summing classes without excluding total counts everything twice. event_time is 1 January of the report year. release is final or early_release: EIA posts an early release of a year in August and replaces it with the final file in the autumn, and the mirror keeps the newest row per key. A key cell EIA leaves blank is '' or 0, and duplicate_index numbers rows that still share a key, in workbook order.