Danube water levels 2023 and similar topics - plus tips and info

[ultramax12]

Live Webcam view of the Danube in Budapest from our hotel, lots of debris in the river and current looks to be very strong. https://www.victoria.hu/webcam We board the Viking Egil tomorrow.

 

 

[Canal archive]

Thank you ultramax12 now that’s a lot of water on the move, the river cruise captains are certainly going to earn their salary this month.

[Map68]

We are on a scenic cruise from Budapest to Amsterdam starting last Monday.  We have just had a boat change which involved coach trip of over 4 hours between Vienna and Straubing.  We had been fretting about low water levels but high water necessitated change.  We are now aboard Scenic Crystal moored at Straubing and may be here another  2 nights.

[notamermaid]

1 hour ago, Map68 said:

We are on a scenic cruise from Budapest to Amsterdam starting last Monday.

Welcome to Cruisecritic and thank you for saying hello from your cruise. I think I have never or hardly ever mentioned flooding in August here because it is so rare. What an unexpected impact on your river cruise. Sorry to read about the long drive. Hopefully things will improve for you after today.

 

The weather is improving and it should get warmer again.

 

Have a great time on the Main and Rhine.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

As steamboats has said, the wave has gone through Passau. The level is still very high - 670cm - but the situation is improving. The graph:

 

Note that the lock and dam at Kachlet may influence the level at Passau . There is still a lot of water to come, i.e. Hofkirchen and Vilshofen also remain high. But the high volume of water from the Isar river is through.

 

notamermaid

 

[prairie girl]

3 hours ago, Map68 said:

We are on a scenic cruise from Budapest to Amsterdam starting last Monday.  We have just had a boat change which involved coach trip of over 4 hours between Vienna and Straubing.  We had been fretting about low water levels but high water necessitated change.  We are now aboard Scenic Crystal moored at Straubing and may be here another  2 nights.

I’m with you onboard!  We enjoyed our Straubing tour this morning!

How special are we?  Two ships on one sailing!

The sun is peaking through the clouds and we should be good for the rest of the cruise!

Sandy

 

[steamboats]

@notamermaid we had floodings in August but rarely. Remember the big one which hit Dresden in 2002. And we also had floods in August in Passau. Not the typical time of the year for flooding but we had it before.

 

steamboats

[notamermaid]

3 hours ago, steamboats said:

Remember the big one which hit Dresden in 2002.

Yes, that was bad. August is a highly unusual time of year for extensive flooding but we get it. The August 2002 floods hit a lot of places and it appears the weather pattern was such that the Danube was massively affected as well. This one this year does not even come close to 2002. That year at Passau has only been beaten by the record flood of June 2013. The statistics of extreme flooding for Passau:

 

On the Rhine, neither 2002 nor 2013 feature in the top ten of floods.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Perhaps a bit of geography is of interest. We get most of our weather from the West, so rain gets in from the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and France. With only slight shifts in the clouds and where they decide to "throw down the ballast" either the Rhine or Danube basin gets more of the rain. This can be coming more from the Southwestern direction as well, then it comes more through Switzerland. Here is the map (green dots are river level gauges):

 

You can see that the Rhine and Danube are very close together. Reutlingen and Stuttgart are on the Neckar which drains into the Rhine. Shift the clouds even further East with precipitation starting way past Zurich, then you get the rain feeding the alpine Rhine only and the Southern tributaries of the Danube providing the volume of water that drives the flooding along the Danube if the rain is prolonged and heavy.

 

notamermaid

 

Edited September 1, 2023 by notamermaid

[notamermaid]

Budapest gauge:

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Passau gauge still going down, albeit more slowly. All good, no more flooding levels on the map anywhere. Passau at 594cm which gives headroom under that bridge. Pfelling gauge at 465cm which should give river cruise ships plenty of water for a few days. A quick recap of August coming soon.

 

notamermaid

 

[Izengolf]

2 hours ago, notamermaid said:

Pfelling gauge at 465cm which should give river cruise ships plenty of water for a few days.

Thanks notamermaid. I have never watched water levels before and now understand why you and others told people it is of no use to try to predict from one week to the next! From low water to flooding to good levels in 2 weeks to be followed by ???

 

I appreciate the people on this board for their knowledge and am now prepared for anything to happen on my Budapest to Nuremberg cruise in a few weeks and just enjoy the adventure. 

[notamermaid]

5 hours ago, notamermaid said:

All good, no more flooding levels on the map anywhere.

That needs clarifying I think. Sorry. I meant anywhere on the Danube in Germany. But Austria is much better now as well. Dürnstein:

 

Taken from the website https://www.doris.bmk.gv.at/en/fairway-information/water-levels

 

notamermaid

 

 

[Blues51]

We were told that we, on the Viking Baldur, were the very first ship to make it from Passau to Regensburg.  The senior crew were all up at 2 am to see if we'd make it through.  Which we did, with centimeters to spare.  Apparently we have a very aggressive captain, for which we're all thankful.  Now on our way towards Nuremberg.

Edited September 2, 2023 by Blues51

[notamermaid]

It is September, time to have a look at what the river did at Pfelling gauge:

 

To keep it short: this could have been a satisfactory month if the rain had come a bit earlier than it did and then not in such high volumes. The level has quickly returned to good figures for sailing. If the situation now (407cm) is backed up by a bit of rain this would give us peace of mind for quite a few days indeed. For now I would say this coming week could be smooth sailing. But this is Pfelling, not Kaub, so never a forecast more than three days into the future.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Pfelling at 360cm. All good for now. After a fast drop, the decline of the level has slowed down.

 

notamermaid

 

[jwohio]

Hi, I'm new to this forum today. Will be on Viking from Budapest to Passau starting 4 Oct. and concerned about water levels and whether we should expect to change ships at any point. What's the experience been with the first part of October on that stretch of the Danube? Thank you!

[smithp7]

3 hours ago, jwohio said:

Hi, I'm new to this forum today. Will be on Viking from Budapest to Passau starting 4 Oct. and concerned about water levels and whether we should expect to change ships at any point. What's the experience been with the first part of October on that stretch of the Danube? Thank you!

Hi, I’m on Viking as well from October 7-14 from Budapest to Regensburg. Pat

[reeves35]

3 hours ago, jwohio said:

Hi, I'm new to this forum today. Will be on Viking from Budapest to Passau starting 4 Oct. and concerned about water levels and whether we should expect to change ships at any point. What's the experience been with the first part of October on that stretch of the Danube? Thank you!

I think you would be OK.  I recently had to do a ship-change but the low water was between Nuremberg and Passau. 

[Host Jazzbeau]

7 hours ago, jwohio said:

Hi, I'm new to this forum today. Will be on Viking from Budapest to Passau starting 4 Oct. and concerned about water levels and whether we should expect to change ships at any point. What's the experience been with the first part of October on that stretch of the Danube? Thank you!

 

3 hours ago, smithp7 said:

Hi, I’m on Viking as well from October 7-14 from Budapest to Regensburg. Pat

A month out is still wild-guess territory.  Keep coming back to this thread and @notamermaid will provide the best information as it updates!

[ColterBay23]

3 hours ago, reeves35 said:

I think you would be OK.  I recently had to do a ship-change but the low water was between Nuremberg and Passau. 

We left Nuremberg and are in Passau today and there was no issue with water levels. October is a ways off so I suggest watching this forum and not being concerned. If it needs to happen then it will happen. 
Have a great trip! 

[notamermaid]

12 hours ago, jwohio said:

Hi, I'm new to this forum today. Will be on Viking from Budapest to Passau starting 4 Oct. and concerned about water levels and whether we should expect to change ships at any point. What's the experience been with the first part of October on that stretch of the Danube? Thank you!

Welcome to Cruisecritic. As mentioned by previous posters, this should be okay.  Problems of note may be between Straubing and Vilshofen, within which lies Pfelling and the river gauge I regularly mention. On the map this section is between Nuremberg and Passau, i.e. a small stretch of the river only. Ship swaps then tend to happen between these two major cities for logistical reasons.

 

In bad drought Austria and Budapest could have problems. This could see Viking shortening the sailing and using a coach to take you a short way.

 

For now, the river looks good. October as our host jazzbeau has mentioned is too far out to give any forecast. So general idea is in short: your itinerary should be fine, drought with low water will be if it happens (and could well do in October) not where you will be sailing, but a very bad spell cannot be ruled out.

 

Oh, and

5 hours ago, ColterBay23 said:

If it needs to happen then it will happen. 

yes, no worrying please. 🙂 Viking is very experienced with plans B and C. Have a great cruise.

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

[notamermaid]

Pfelling gauge at 340cm. A splendid warm day in Germany with no clouds of note anywhere in the sky where I am and no signs of them on the radar either. ☀️

 

notamermaid

 

[ColterBay23]

We arrived at Passau today, the confluence of the Danube and Inn rivers. (After the Main river) 

Beautiful day, although warm 80 degrees. 

[notamermaid]

2 hours ago, ColterBay23 said:

We arrived at Passau today, the confluence of the Danube and Inn rivers. (After the Main river) 

Thank you for the photo. I never knew that one can walk right up to that spot.

 

notamermaid