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

[wlucas]

It does not look good.  Beautiful weather until the 17th, when we start upriver. That doesn't bode well for water levels.  And of course, as soon as we arrive, its cloudy and cool the entire trip.  Ugh.  Basin, Danube, Serbia Daily Weather | AccuWeather

[notamermaid]

2 hours ago, wlucas said:

It does not look good.  Beautiful weather until the 17th, when we start upriver. That doesn't bode well for water levels.  And of course, as soon as we arrive, its cloudy and cool the entire trip.  Ugh.  Basin, Danube, Serbia Daily Weather | AccuWeather

Welcome to Cruisecritic. Thank you for the link. Serbia is of course further out than Budapest but there is a high chance the weather will be similar there as with us West of the Balkans. Weather pattern has changed and the clouds are now drifting such that it will rain mostly in higher altitudes, focussing on the Alpine regions. Clouds still sweeping through on 3rd October though (4th October in Austria). However, rain does not look to be for long. Substantial in some parts but drizzle only in others. Will see how it goes.

 

September recap coming up tomorrow or day after.

 

notamermaid

 

[wlucas]

Hello Notamermaid, Thanks for the update.  Can you share the link for this info?  Thanks, Bill

[rennebird]

We're heading east on the Danube from Budapest to Ruse on 10/6. I just checked weather forecasts for each stop along the way. The weather looks beautiful, with highs in the mid 70's and lows around 50 (Fahrenheit). There is almost no chance of rain in the forecasts. That's great for land excursions, but I worry about river water levels. Here's hoping....

[notamermaid]

8 minutes ago, wlucas said:

Hello Notamermaid, Thanks for the update.  Can you share the link for this info?  Thanks, Bill

Certainly: https://www.meteox.de/forecastloop.aspx?type=1#

 

Real time "now" data I like to look at here: https://www.wettergefahren.de/wetter/deutschland/aktuell/radarfilm.html

 

notamermaid

 

P.S.: German info more or less agrees with meteox

 

Edited September 30, 2023 by notamermaid

[notamermaid]

Budapest with forecast:

Other graph gives evening figure, i.e. now, as 119cm. Slow decline is expected. The margin of error makes for real unpredictability from the 4th.

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

[BookanotherPJK]

17 hours ago, Mucciano1 said:

We board in Budapest on October 6th and travel to Regensburg.  How are the water levels looking on that stretch?

We just got off on Friday had to port in Vilshofen and bus to Regensburg and back. Next group boarded in Vilshofen for return to Budapest . We did have a little bit of rain in Budapest in the beginning but it has been very warm 

[notamermaid]

It may look like a plug that has been pulled like @Canal archive suggested or the giant snake that I suspect is doing things or, for the more mundane explanation, the authorities are doing something at the dams and locks - whoever has done something at Pfelling is not making any friends with river cruisers. The gauge reads 251cm now. That is the realm from which the river can struggle to recover meaning just a hint of rain is not enough. I am not too hopeful looking at the radar images. Happy to be proven wrong.

 

With every centimetre less more large ships struggle of course and the level is already low enough to impact the shorter ships which tend to have a lower draft.

 

notamermaid

 

[Mucciano1]

It looks as if our Viking Cruise from Budapest to Regensburg on Oct. 6th is going to more of a bus trip.  Any advice/suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

[notamermaid]

So on the Rhine we have Kaub with its famous gauge tower building, on the Danube we look at Pfelling which has - a hut. This is the hydrological information page on the history of extreme high or low water: https://undine.bafg.de/donau/pegel/donau_pegel_pfelling.html

Note that the authorities prefer to measure and note the extremes by volume of water, which is apparently called discharge in English, rather than level.

 

notamermaid

 

Edited October 1, 2023 by notamermaid

[island lady]

We are still Austria, but headed to Passau overnight.   Expecting an announcement any time now.  

[iticlaudia]

It seems like all the posts I read about water issues are North of Passau, is that the case?  We are thinking about booking a Vienna to Passau roundtrip the first week of December, how are water levels then?  Interesting thing was when we were on the ship in September the Captain explained the ship needed 10cm of water going downstream and 50cm of water coming upstream.  That of course sounds crazy to us, but he has been on the ship for 20 years and I have no doubt he knows his ship.  

[notamermaid]

2 hours ago, iticlaudia said:

It seems like all the posts I read about water issues are North of Passau, is that the case?  We are thinking about booking a Vienna to Passau roundtrip the first week of December, how are water levels then?

Yes, North of Passau, or rather Vilshofen. December fine normally, but can get a bit of flooding.

 

2 hours ago, iticlaudia said:

Interesting thing was when we were on the ship in September the Captain explained the ship needed 10cm of water going downstream and 50cm of water coming upstream.  That of course sounds crazy to us, but he has been on the ship for 20 years and I have no doubt he knows his ship.  

Not sure about the intricacies of sailing a ship but I think this could be the squat effect: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squat_effect

 

notamermaid

 

[reeves35]

7 hours ago, notamermaid said:

Yes, North of Passau, or rather Vilshofen. December fine normally, but can get a bit of flooding.

 

Not sure about the intricacies of sailing a ship but I think this could be the squat effect: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squat_effect

 

notamermaid

 

10cm and 50cm both sound weird.  From what I understood, most riverships require about 1m under the keel to allow for both squat as well as sufficient water to push through.  I'm not a hydrologist so don't understand the physics but 1 metre does seem to make sense.

[island lady]

Will be docked at Vilshofen this afternoon briefly, then continuing to Regensburg tonight.  Will update on what we find.  

[Canal archive]

Looking at Marine Traffic and the different companies reported ships draught’s, Scenics are so much more shallow, okay in the past Scenic have said that their vessels are the shallowest drafted but on a very quick scan through they are. 
If when your cruising you look at the bow wave of some of the heavier loaded barges (the ones sitting really low in the water) you’ll notice the side wave flowing down the boat this is where they need the depth. Upstream your pushing water, downstream your - going with the flow.

On the Seine this year a tug pushing two empty barges it’s a good indication of the depth they require when fully loaded.

[notamermaid]

Pfelling at 257cm. Glad to see the minimal recovery since yesterday. Clear skies in Germany this morning. Isolated clouds with minimal rain.

 

The hull construction makes such a difference to sailing in low water and barges have of course the advantage that they can be loaded and unloaded, river cruise ships once fully fitted cannot reduce load that much. What they can do is reduce the water in the tanks, empty the sundeck pool and off load the passengers (the last makes little difference). The unfinished hull I captured on webcam on the Rhine last year showed how little depth they basically need, once turned into a fully functioning river cruise ship that "room to wiggle" is substantially reduced.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Let us have a look at Pfelling gauge in September:

At the beginning of the month we still see the effect of much rain, the flooding that occurred and disrupted river cruise itineraries. A fast drop was inevitable but some rain could have kept the level up more. But it was more or less satisfactory till the 21th with the low water affecting individual itineraries rather than a large part of the fleet. A good amount of rain helped on the 23th when the level recovered swiftly. This was bound to be only brief in this warm and dry autumn weather. October started on a low and with the mostly dry weather continuing this situation could stay with us for a while. We will need to see what the rain forecast to sweep through Tuesday into Wednesday night does to the levels in the Danube basin. The forecast for the gauge at Pfelling suggests no further drop with minimal improvement of the figures but only looks 36 hours into the future so we cannot see any rain considered in that yet.

 

notamermaid

 

 

[MotherDaughterTravels]

Naive question but how Pfelling gauge impact Danube River Cruising. It appears to be near Passau.  THANKS

[notamermaid]

Pfelling gauge measures the river level at a small place called Bogen, between Passau and Regensburg. Within that section of river is the stretch that is free flowing - from Vilshofen to Straubing (looking upstream). The navigation channel is uneven with shallows becoming more pronounced, i.e. the hulls get closer to them, with every centimetre less on the scale. Getting out of the navigation channel or fully hitting a gravel bank makes a ship run aground of course. It could block the channel or even damage the ship. Captains decide for themselves if the passage is safe for their ship or not. They have special maps and use radar and up to date info on the internet about shallows.

 

A cross section of a river with ship which helps to explain it:

 

notamermaid

 

 

[MotherDaughterTravels]

Thank you Notar.   We are only going from Budapest to Passau in 2 weeks.  Any predictions on river cruise passage? I certainly understand it is just an educated guess but you know much more than I ever will.  Laurie

[notamermaid]

6 minutes ago, MotherDaughterTravels said:

Any predictions on river cruise passage?

Not a clue that far out, gut feeling points towards continued "wobbly" levels at Pfelling. Budapest to Passau of course looking better it is just that bit at the Danube Bend which may be a problem. What will be in two weeks time there I think anyone would be guessing wildly now, perhaps with the locals being better at the educated guess. Gauge at Budapest suggests a drop below 100cm on 6 October so at least we can kind of tell that the dry weather will be in Austria, Slovakia and Hungary as well, meaning no helpful additional rain falling in those countries.

 

notamermaid

 

[deec]

We are on Viking Vidar embarked near Bucharest.   Tonight we had to turn around and head back to Passau.   Will bus to Regensburg tomorrow and then do a ship swap the next day after a long transit to Nuremberg.   Disappointed to be leaving this great crew but unavoidable.  We will be swapping with the Lif which unbelievably was the ship we first did Budapest to amsterdam 9 years ago.

[notamermaid]

13 minutes ago, deec said:

Will bus to Regensburg tomorrow and then do a ship swap the next day after a long transit to Nuremberg.  

Thank you for reporting. Have a nice day in Regensburg tomorrow and then a hopefully smooth coach ride with change to the Lif.

 

notamermaid

 

[Mucciano1]

Board in Budapest on Oct. 6th and head to Regensburg.  Does anybody know how far they believe we will make it on the boat?