Rhine water levels 2023 and similar topics

[Travelgo54]

we are traveling from Amsterdam to Basel in two weeks. What are the projected water levels for that area of the Rhine. Thank you. 

[notamermaid]

50 minutes ago, Travelgo54 said:

we are traveling from Amsterdam to Basel in two weeks. What are the projected water levels for that area of the Rhine. Thank you. 

Welcome to Cruisecritic. On the Rhine we have mostly only the area from Worms to Koblenz to look at around this time for levels as that is where the low occurs - if it does. Nothing of note so far. Earlier this morning the forecast was not working, i.e. the website. Now here it is: Kaub at 136cm, levels till 1 September show that a high will follow a low. So to speak. All in all, probability for the level falling below 100cm is low. But it could happen.

 

notamermaid

 

[reeves35]

Hi  I'm currently on Travelmarvel Vega at Rudesheim and went through the Rhine Gorge this morning.  Water levels are fine.  We have seen no issues anywhere.

 

It is a beautiful part of the world and the weather at the moment is amazingly good, about 30 every day.

 

[notamermaid]

Another very warm day in the valley, but we have had hotter summers. As a consequence of a fair amount of rain in July and the temperatures not being on a constant summer high, there is enough water in the Rhine basin, at least in the sense that enough is still fed into the mighty river to give us satisfactory levels for river cruising.

 

So, to follow up on my short post yesterday. Kaub gauge is at 119cm, forecast gives us 110cm on Thursday, i.e. the loss is not that great from day to day. Friday into Saturday should see the low, meaning the bottom in the chart is suggested for that time frame. Still mostly likely to be just above 100cm. It is suggested the month will end on more than 150cm. Which would give a good buffer for the first week in September. Note that this is computer modelling visualized in a probability chart.

 

notamermaid

 

[Rikboatman]

Thanks for the updates. Much appreciated. 

[notamermaid]

10 hours ago, Rikboatman said:

Thanks for the updates. Much appreciated. 

My pleasure. Things going really fine along the Rhine, honestly better than I had feared for August. Looking over the Danube, things are not going so well. Which is of course not good for the Grand European journeys.

 

Just a note, if anyone is asking themselves this question: "Is there any way to completely avoid a ship swap or cancellation on the major rivers in Germany on an itinerary due to drought?" Yes, "95 to 99 percent avoidance" is possible with an itinerary on the Main from Bamberg to Frankfurt, on the Saar and Moselle, or for a more standard Moselle/Rhine option that is Trier to Cologne or as far as Wesel (or Amsterdam, which is not on the Rhine of course). All those areas have locks and/or are dug out deep in the navigation channels.

 

What about Basel to Frankfurt which avoids the Rhine Gorge? Basically the same as above, but the tricky bit is the Main river confluence which can get affected when the level gets quite low, so not as good as the other options.

 

More importantly: Kaub gauge at 115cm, so basically on track with the forecast.

 

notamermaid

 

Edited August 23, 2023 by notamermaid

[notamermaid]

Well, I was going to post about bridges... Now, yesterday, the news brought excitement for this Rhine river maiden in the shape of a report of the discovery, or rather confirmation, of a Roman bridge in the Eifel region. So I will widen this topic. Grin. Basically, this is about Cologne, modern bridges, Roman bridges, a Roman road and Trier.

 

As you probably know, Cologne is a Roman city, it was the capital of Germania inferior, and called Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium, or abbreviated CCAA. Quite naturally, the Romans just did that as standard, there was a bridge crossing the Rhine to Divitia, which is now the modern suburb of Deutz. Constructed in 310 AD, it is not fully clear when that wooden bridge disappeared, but according to a city council article online it took over 900 years for there to be another permanent crossing over the river, so they say it happened around the year 960 and the next bridge was constructed in 1822 - a pontoon bridge. The modern bridge to Deutz stands where the Roman bridge was. Now Cologne has seven bridges (an eighth one is shared with the neighbouring district) and will get two more. Those two bridges are in the planning stages. This is the article from the city council, just have a look at the photo if you are interested. Plans will be ready in 2024: https://www.stadt-koeln.de/leben-in-koeln/verkehr/bruecken/zwei-neue-rheinbruecken-fuer-koeln

 

There is another large settlement (among others) in what is now Germany that was of importance in Roman times, called Augusta Treverorum. This is now Trier on the Moselle. And at this point may I rave about the antiquities in Trier, better than in Cologne, do go to Trier, the bridge is partly still there and is much older than the Cologne bridge anyway and -snip!- where was I? Ah, yes. Roman roads. You could go along the Rhine and Moselle and the Romans certainly used the flat areas along the rivers to get to places. But from Cologne to Trier that is a bit tedious so why not cross the Eifel region, go over hills, past volcanic lakes and through swamps and build a road there? They seriously did that, through the middle of nowhere (which turns out to be not so nowhere, certainly not wilderness by any means) and that road from CCAA to Augusta Treverorum has in modern days been given the name Römerstraße Trier-Köln, and is part of the Via Agrippa network of Roman roads: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_road_from_Trier_to_Cologne

 

This is where yesterday's news come in.

 

To be continued.

 

notamermaid

 

 

[Rikboatman]

I love historical information of any type, especially of a place where I will be going, (again). I think I will just call it Koln for now. Thanks!

[Retired.old.fart]

@notamermaid, I’m so glad I was informed about your thread.  I’ve enjoyed reading the posts going back 6 pages or so.  We will be on the Viking Kara departing Basel for Amsterdam on September 10th and the info on this thread Hans given us a lot to look forward to.  Thanks so much!

[notamermaid]

Kaub gauge on course, meaning following the forecast. A few clouds with rain have already swept over the middle of Germany. More to come from the Netherlands. A hot, stuffy day today, in towns at least.

 

In other news: on Saturday a young man tried to swim from Neuwied to Weißenthurm on the other bank of the river. A ship alerted the police. The man was apparently not in distress and got safely to the other side but this is a busy river so any attempt to swim across is highly dangerous. For that reason a large rescue operation was launched.

 

Yesterday a fire broke out on a river cruise ship at Gorinchem. Dutch news shows photos of a Viking ship. According to a different report the ship is now back on course to Basel, so sounds relatively minor.

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

[notamermaid]

Kaub gauge at 110cm. We may have seen the bottom figure this morning already. If not so then during the next 36 hours. After that the trend is up and for good levels till 4 September, with a reasonable chance for longer than that.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

A short addition, digressing just a little from what I had planned to write about, to my post #557. I meant to say of course that Cologne has seven bridges spanning the Rhine. There are many more smaller bridges with some of them crossing bodies of water and one of them is on the Rhine but not spanning it. That is the swing bridge at Deutz harbour. By sheer coincidence I have found out today that after extensive restoration work the bridge will fully reopen (with the exception of some car traffic) on 28 August, i.e Monday: https://www.stadt-koeln.de/politik-und-verwaltung/presse/mitteilungen/26055/index.html

The bridge is over 100 years old and the steel ornamented in Art Nouveau style. River cruise ships dock there sometimes. It is here, left side of the photo is the Rhine:

 

The satellite image shows two river cruise ships and my screenshot shows three police launch signalling (Wsp is short for Wasserschutzpolizei).

 

In Cologne some roads still follow exactly the old Roman grid and when you walk along "Hohe Straße", literally the High Street and in Cologne really a shopping street like in Britain, you walk along the old axis South to North, the Cardo Maximus. Anyway, we will instead follow the Via Agrippa out of Cologne via what is now Luxemburger Straße through the Eifel region and that bridge through the swamp.

 

notamermaid

 

[NantahalaCruiser]

On 8/21/2023 at 10:23 AM, reeves35 said:

 

Love your picture of Oberwesel.  Wife and I stayed overnight in the top of the tower at Burghotel Auf Schönburg while on a land trip about 40 years ago!

 

 

Edited August 26, 2023 by NantahalaCruiser

[Canal archive]

Is Scotland the only place in Europe you can go without bumping into a Roman?

[sharkster77]

6 hours ago, Canal archive said:

Is Scotland the only place in Europe you can go without bumping into a Roman?

If Hadrian's Wall did its job, yes, I suppose!

[notamermaid]

Fun fact: Both Hadrian's Wall and the Limes in Germany are part of the transnational UNESCO World Heritage Site Borders of the Roman Empire. I have been to Hadrian's Wall and live not too far from the Limes. If you are very interested in the Romans: https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/430/

 

17 hours ago, Canal archive said:

Is Scotland the only place in Europe you can go without bumping into a Roman?

Past the hills, down that motorway, let us say not too far a drive in the car, the vast "Germania Magna" starts. In river cruise terms this means that the Rhine is part of the old Roman Empire, the Main is mostly not, the Danube mostly is.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Good reaction at Kaub, as expected. Level at 147cm and still rising.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Just to add: the Elbe is of course far into "Germania Magna" and while it is claimed that Romans did some exploring in the region, this seems to never have been more than brief visits from what I understand. As you have noticed in the past I do not have much charitable stuff to say about the German capital and if we were allowed to choose a city for that purpose Berlin would not even make it into the top ten of choices. While Cologne and Trier were towns of for that age huge proportions, the Spree basin that would 1000 years later have two small settlements (eventually becoming Berlin) was a swamp, quite literally. Biting my lip, staying civil and moving on... From Capital to Capitol and therefore back to (Roman) civilization. St. Maria im Kapitol is a magnificent old church in Cologne and as the name implies literally stands where the Roman Capitol was: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Maria_im_Kapitol

 

And from there we will take the car/chariot/walk out of Cologne and head straight - and I mean straight - to Zülpich, which you may have guessed, is another Roman settlement. There we will already be in the Eifel region.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

While the situation at Passau on the Danube is not good, there is no flooding along the Rhine. We have basically the same weather pattern at the moment but the clouds have unhappily favoured the Danube basin. All gauges are rising on the Rhine now but the situation is good. Kaub is at 160cm but due to rise as a high volume of water is coming from the Upper Rhine valley. Expected level for Thursday evening 300cm. The Upper Rhine valley may be pushed to the warning level for mild flooding tomorrow.

 

notamermaid

 

[steamboats]

Actually Lake Constance and the Rhine river part flowing into the lake is flooding so there will be some water coming down the Rhine river too. It´s just the question when and how much.

 

steamboats

[notamermaid]

4 hours ago, steamboats said:

Actually Lake Constance and the Rhine river part flowing into the lake is flooding so there will be some water coming down the Rhine river too. It´s just the question when and how much.

 

steamboats

Yes, that is right, right up there is mild flooding. Lake Constance takes up most of that strain but it will of course result in higher levels along the Rhine. Currently the Middle Rhine valley is letting the rain from much of the Main river and some of the Upper Rhine valley (and the other tributaries) through. The substantial rise in the level has started and is fast. Still only pre-warning for the Rhine:

 

Passau - BAD!

 

Maxau gauge (at Karlsruhe) is climbing fast and as indicated in the pre-warning will most likely reach mild flooding as in navigational terms which will trigger a warning for shipping. But ban on river traffic is not anticipated.

 

notamermaid

 

[Host Jazzbeau]

7 hours ago, notamermaid said:

Maxau gauge (at Karlsruhe) is climbing fast and as indicated in the pre-warning will most likely reach mild flooding as in navigational terms which will trigger a warning for shipping. But ban on river traffic is not anticipated.

Except in the sensationalist press!

[notamermaid]

1 hour ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Except in the sensationalist press!

Oh dear, are they at it again? Okay, visual proof is necessary, me thinks. This is Maxau:

 

As I posted before, navigational the level will reach flood mark I, and, yes, most likely flooding (650cm). This is so frequent that this level may be called an almost annual occurrence. No more dramatic than that. It may show on the web pages as being bi-annually, though. River traffic ban is at 750cm.

 

The wave is now at Kehl (opposite river bank to Strasbourg), expected to peak around midnight. Which means that all gauges further upstream from Strasbourg are showing falling levels and Hauenstein (near Lake Constance) which is currently signalling official flooding will fall below that status before 1am.

 

We are fortunate that neither Neckar, Main nor Moselle carry a very high volume of water. It rained a lot, but it was neither substantial nor prolonged enough to cause great concern. It really rained hardest over the Danube catchment area with East Switzerland and the tributaries of the Rhine getting some of that heavy rain.

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

[Host Jazzbeau]

2 minutes ago, notamermaid said:

Oh dear, are they at it again?

No, I was just expecting it...

[notamermaid]

20 minutes ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

No, I was just expecting it...

Oops. Oh well. I really thought they may do as they do in drought. But I have not spent time in vain. It has been interesting to follow that wave in the graphs.

 

Back to the Romans. I had nearly missed this: a group of people dressed up as Romans is currently marching - I mean during the day - all along the Limes from Eining to Rheinbrohl! Both dress and food are as authentic as possible. They have almost reached their destination. The finale with a celebration will be on 2 and 3 September in Rheinbrohl at the interactive museum Römerwelt. The project is called "Limesmarsch 2023" and they will have marched nearly 750kms.

 

notamermaid