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Rhine water levels 2018 and similar topics


notamermaid
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Brrrr!!! I've been noticing the reports about the nasty cold weather in Europe. With our departure from Amsterdam only a little over two weeks away now (boarding Amavenita 17 March, leaving Amsterdam evening 18 March) I'm wondering if the freezing conditions with wind chill are going to continue, and if it will affect the river heights. I notice you say the levels are quite low at the moment, Notamermaid. Hopefully not too low. I guess a lot can still happen in two and a half weeks. Coming from Australia, the cold is going to be quite a shock, that's for sure. The water woollies, thermals and down coat are packed!

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feelingcruisey,

 

Yes, it is very cold, was down to -23 degrees in the night, and it has been snowing again! But before I scare everyone, those temperatures are in the highest hills and -15 figures appeared in the East. The Rhine valley has chilly winds, not storms, is currently at around -5 degrees and little snow. Too cold statistically for end of February but bearable. Temperatures will rise again towards the weekend and rain will come. The cold spell will be gone by then more or less and we will return to standard weather for the beginning of March. What the middle of March will bring we do not know yet. A relatively accurate forecast is such a graph that you can follow along (lots of ads): https://www.wetteronline.de/wetter/koblenz I have set it for Koblenz in the middle of the Rhine valley. On the right-hand side you see a graph called 14-Tage-Wetter. Follow that one along as you count down the days to your cruise. Or change the settings around in the middle of the page for the coming days "heute, "morgen", etc. You can change the town at the top of the page where it says "Das Wetter in ..."

 

As regards water levels. They are more or less perfect, could be a little lower to allow for more snow melt, but are certainly nowhere near being too low for sailing. All fine for a few days.

 

Not to worry, AmaWaterways I am sure will take great care of you. With hot chocolate and warming tea if necessary! :)

 

notamermaid

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Thanks Notamermaid, that link is very useful. I notice it's getting warmer on the weekend, if you can call 0 - 8 degrees warm, haha! It's "cool" here in northern NSW, Australia. The last day of summer was a 29 degree day. So it will take a bit of adjustment hitting Europe next week. I do hope APT has that cup of hot chocolate waiting for us. :)

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The Rhine valley around my area is bathed in sunshine right now. The temperature has risen and it feels warm compared to Friday. The icy wind has disappeared. The river level has risen a little but it can just as easily fall again as it is not raining. In the hills it is colder so not that much snow melt yet. Rain will come during the week to the South of the valley and then further downstream as well. But even when applying the worst case scenario published by the experts there will be no flooding on the Rhine for the next seven days.

 

Looking good for the first sailings.

 

 

If you would like to see what it was like a few days ago here is a video of a reporter explaining the weather conditions at Lake Constance: https://www.wetteronline.de/wetter-videos/2018-03-02-mk?sort=date

 

notamermaid

Edited by notamermaid
added video
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Beyond the standard ports... part 11

 

Opposite the more frequented city and port of Mannheim, that being used mainly as a stop for coaching passengers to Heidelberg but increasingly for excursions into the city, lies the city of Ludwigshafen. Recent regional newspaper reports suggest that Ludwigshafen wants a piece of the cake of river cruising popularity. I admit to being completely biased, but I am sure I am not the only one to say that Ludwigshafen for such an endeavour has one big problem: image. For me the city is synonymous in my mind with the chemical works BASF. This however is not accurate as the settlement goes back a bit longer and the town that emerged as the later Ludwigshafen was there before the chemical factory was built on the outskirts of the town.

 

Still, Ludwigshafen has built a landing stage for river cruises; I say the city has built it but newspaper reports suggest that both the construction contract and the financial means came from the ECE company that stands behind (in legal not literal terms) behind the shopping centre "Rhein-Galerie". The landing stage will be close to the actual building of the Rhein-Galerie.

 

To give you an idea what Ludwigshafen is about, here is the wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwigshafen

 

So when you think of medieval castles, palaces and quaint streets, do not think of Ludwigshafen.

 

Who goes there? Well, I could not find out if Ludwigshafen has had a landing stage somewhere along its embankment before but no German river cruises currently have Ludwigshafen in their schedule (a few that I might not have found excepted). The construction of the new landing stage has been delayed due to the flooding we had earlier this year but is supposed to be operational from April. AmaWaterways has decided to use Ludwigshafen for a stop to put passengers on the excursions to Mannheim or Speyer or the technical museum in Speyer on the itinerary "Medieval Treasures". They might use it on other itineraries, I did not check that.

 

It sounds as if AmaWaterways only regards Ludwigshafen as a convenient stop for scheduling excursions which is very understandable but if you do decide to explore Ludwigshafen or even just to report on the dock I would be happy to read your info here. If you have been to Ludwighafen on an itinerary before do send us a message in this thread, too.

 

After all, with all its romanticism and treasured history on the Rhine we should also give the 19th century and industrial heritage a bit of a chance...

 

notamermaid

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If you are new to my little series of ports on the Rhine and wondering where numbers 1 to 10 are, you can find them in last year's thread on the Rhine: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2447516 But not to worry, you do not need to "wade through" hundreds of posts, this should ease the search:

 

Part 1 #29 Düsseldorf,

part 2 #30 Worms,

part 3 #45 Karlsruhe,

part 4 #71 Wiesbaden-Biebrich,

part 5 #90 Bingen,

part 6 #123 Lahnstein,

part 7 #209 Engers,

part 8 #246 Andernach,

part 9 #259 St. Goar,

part 10 #262 St. Goarshausen.

 

notamermaid

Edited by Host Jazzbeau
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notamermaid: This is such a terrific series that I took the liberty of copying all the posts you mention into a new thread:

Rhine - Beyond the Standard Ports

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2608575

 

I will also add a link to this new thread in my Sticky on RIVERS and AREAS. Please continue!

 

 

[bTW there was one typo in your list above: part 8 Andernach is #246 in the older thread. I corrected it to prevent confusion :)]

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Hostjazzbeau, I am delighted! [blush] Thank you very much for the thread and the link. Will continue the series in the new thread.

 

I will conclude this evening with a happy smile on my face. :):)

 

notamermaid

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My pleasure, JerrylnlL.

 

Jpalbny did a great report/blog on the itinerary on the SS Antoinette. Well worth reading, especially as your itinerary is one of the few North-American ones stopping on Boppard. I have not included Boppard in my series as it is such a well-known place, so to make up for that, for those who would like to read up a bit on that town and the furniture "genius" Thonet, here is the website of the museum: http://museum-boppard.de/start-english/

 

Have a great cruise.

 

notamermaid

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Just to reassure everyone: it has been raining quite a bit. River levels are still looking more or less perfect and the worst-case scenario does not bring us anywhere close to flooding status before 18th March. Looking also promising for a few days after that, unless it rains by the bucketload.

 

It is sunny today, but the general weather conditions are considered "unsettled".

 

notamermaid

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It is sunny today almost over all of Germany and the temperatures in the Rhine valley will reach double digits today and tomorrow. Clouds will bring rain and cooler temperatures from Friday onwards and it could snow - in Cologne for example - on Saturday. Wind, storm in the higher hills, will make this feel a bit unpleasant.

 

River levels: they will fluctuate little and according to the predictions there will be no flooding anytime before 22nd March (right now looking promising for the following two to three days after that as well).

 

notamermaid

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Thank you for the updates. I'm leaving next week for the Rhine and although it's a little warmer there than here, I'd love for it to go up a few more degrees. Can you work on that? ;)

 

In any case, I'm looking forward to my first river cruise!

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It is cold, too cold for this time in March and while it is forecast to be milder towards the weekend and into next week, there are no signs of Spring. Snowmelt is dragging into April then, meaning the river levels will rise. Currently the river is low for winter, around the mean or slightly below. Which is good of course to allow for snow from the Swiss Alps, the Black Forest and the Vosges mountains. They all drain their water into the Rhine (either directly or by means of tributaries).

 

Current temperature in Mannheim is zero degrees - with snowfall!

 

Yet, looking out of my window here - I am quite a distance away from Mannheim - it has brightened up and we have no snow.

 

notamermaid

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The temperature has risen - for now - and it is lovely and sunny. The neighbour's cat is sleeping in the flower bed, which is always an indicator here with me that the weather is pleasant. :)

 

I heard yesterday that beer gardens are being prepared for opening, most of them probably want to be ready for the, somewhat early, Easter weekend trade, meaning day trippers and locals mainly.

 

The coming week will bring rain, though. Some rise in the river levels is imminent but the prediction does not bring the river up to flooding level from what I could see. We sometimes get "Easter flooding" due to the rising temperatures in March but this year it does not look likely.

 

Here is a pre- or post-cruise tip for those of you who would like to be on water for more than just the cruise: Lake Constance. The historic paddle steamer will take you across the lake to see the sights: https://www.bodensee-vorarlberg.com/en/poi/dampfschiff-hohentwiel/

 

notamermaid

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Thank you Notamermaid for your great news on the Rhine water levels! We leave today for Amsterdam and board the AMAStella on Monday! This is our first river cruise and we are very excited and looking forward to seeing all of the great sites along the river! We're ready with our "layered" clothes, ponchos, gloves and umbrellas! After the cruise, we are headed to Basel, Zurich, Lake Como and finally Milan ... and The Last Supper ... before heading home. Thank you for all of your helpful updates!

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Things are pleasantly calm in the Middle Rhine valley, it is not as rainy (yet) as has been predicted and the latest prediction for the river level shows a rise that will not take us near any flooding level status.

 

I would like to pick up on a story that I posted in 2016: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2308253&page=2 at #25

 

It is almost certain that the metal object in the river bed is the lost steam engine and the railway enthusiasts have made plans to raise the engine. It will happen in October 2018 (current schedule as of January this year) and the regional television station SWR will cover the event in a special. Here is the German page with the details: https://www.swr.de/swraktuell/rp/jahrzehntelange-schatzsuche-nach-der-verschollenen-rhein-wie-die-nadel-im-heuhaufen/-/id=1682/did=15699140/nid=1682/1huq3jp/index.html The title of the page says the decade-long treasure hunt for the lost "Rhein" was like trying to find a needle in a haystack. I can well believe it. The drone flight video shows the site where they assume the engine lies covered with stones and sand. By the way, such endeavours are always costly, so the museum in Darmstadt-Kranichstein is still looking for sponsors... The video commentator says that the spot is in a nature reserve inaccessible from land. The water is only 2.5m high but the engine is 5m deep down in the ground.

 

notamermaid

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Easter is approaching and I am busy with shopping, we have a public holiday here tomorrow with full shop closure and again on Monday with full shop closure. It is relatively pleasant and it has not rained as much in some parts as had been predicted. Nevertheless the water level is rising as the higher temperatures mean less rain falls as snow and snow is melting in the high hills, mainly Switzerland, of course. Maxau, which is a good indicator for impending flooding, shows a marked rise but it will not bring us close to flooding status. In fact, looking into April, the level will fall again and it looks good for sailing (tentatively) up to around the 10th of April. The downside of the slow approach of Spring is of course that it is not as green in the gardens as it could be around this time of year. Oh well, you cannot have it all...

 

notamermaid

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Thanks for the updates Notamermaid.

 

I have clients arriving in Basel on Monday, I forget that the religious holidays are celebrated a greater length in Europe. Do you think they will find it an issue to have dinner in Basel on Monday?

 

Glad to hear the river levels appear to be okay for cruising.:)

 

I will be cruising the Rhine the first week of August, I will be sure to keep an eye on this very helpful thread.

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