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

[notamermaid]

Passau has peaked and is now at 640cm. This may only be temporary. Tomorrow could look a bit better, but the situation does not appear to ease much soon. Gauges upstream from Passau are rising. Kelheim is on flooding level one.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Pfelling has seen a steady rise during today. Passau has temporarily gone down and is now at 630cm.

 

notamermaid

 

[smithp7]

5 hours ago, notamermaid said:

Pfelling has seen a steady rise during today. Passau has temporarily gone down and is now at 630cm.

 

notamermaid

 

I have family that will be getting on a Viking cruise from Budapest to Regensburg tomorrow. What does that mean for them?

 

[notamermaid]

5 hours ago, smithp7 said:

I have family that will be getting on a Viking cruise from Budapest to Regensburg tomorrow. What does that mean for them?

 

I myself would not have any details on river traffic beyond Passau. But a lot of water is coming down their way so they will need to "sail through the wave". The particular problem on their route is the low bridge at Passau which would stop them from getting into Passau to dock and sail onto Regensburg.

 

We currently have the situation that the gauges this morning are showing high figures, putting some areas onto official flooding, either level 1 or 2. Passau has also risen a lot again, current level is 683cm. A further rise is expected. Difficult to judge right now how long the situation will last, i.e. when the peak at Passau will be.

 

notamermaid

 

[smithp7]

2 hours ago, notamermaid said:

I myself would not have any details on river traffic beyond Passau. But a lot of water is coming down their way so they will need to "sail through the wave". The particular problem on their route is the low bridge at Passau which would stop them from getting into Passau to dock and sail onto Regensburg.

 

We currently have the situation that the gauges this morning are showing high figures, putting some areas onto official flooding, either level 1 or 2. Passau has also risen a lot again, current level is 683cm. A further rise is expected. Difficult to judge right now how long the situation will last, i.e. when the peak at Passau will be.

 

notamermaid

 

Thank you so much for this very informative explanation. I will be watching daily to see if anything changes here on the forum. I’ve really enjoyed following you and your excellent informative information. When we were there in October, we were not able to sail beyond Passau  and we were not able to get on the boat in Budapest. It’s so interesting how much it changes. Thanks again, Pat

[PaulS]

10 hours ago, smithp7 said:

I have family that will be getting on a Viking cruise from Budapest to Regensburg tomorrow. What does that mean for them?

 

I hope you will report back on this thread when you learn if your family’s trip will be impacted by the river levels as we begin the same trip in Budapest on Viking in two weeks.

[notamermaid]

7 hours ago, smithp7 said:

When we were there in October, we were not able to sail beyond Passau  and we were not able to get on the boat in Budapest. It’s so interesting how much it changes.

Yes, quite a change to your - unfortunate - situation then.

 

Pfelling has peaked, Passau is now at 746cm and on flood level 2. The graph:

 

Forecast suggest a further rise and peak just after midnight.

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

[smithp7]

6 hours ago, PaulS said:

I hope you will report back on this thread when you learn if your family’s trip will be impacted by the river levels as we begin the same trip in Budapest on Viking in two weeks.

I definitely will…

[reeves35]

14 hours ago, smithp7 said:

Thank you so much for this very informative explanation. I will be watching daily to see if anything changes here on the forum. I’ve really enjoyed following you and your excellent informative information. When we were there in October, we were not able to sail beyond Passau  and we were not able to get on the boat in Budapest. It’s so interesting how much it changes. Thanks again, Pat

Yes, it is surprising how much the level changes.  We were on the Danube in August and had to bus from Nuremberg to Passau with a ship change due to low water.  At the same time, there was significant rain in the upper Danube catchments and 2 days after we left, ships were unable to get through Passau due to high water.  The flow was very strong and the captain had difficulty docking in Vienna and sometimes it felt like we were surfing towards Budapest.

[reeves35]

Is this time of year comparatively quiet on the Rhine and Danube?  The main season is now over and, I assume, the Christmas cruises don't really reach their peak until December.

[smithp7]

4 hours ago, reeves35 said:

Yes, it is surprising how much the level changes.  We were on the Danube in August and had to bus from Nuremberg to Passau with a ship change due to low water.  At the same time, there was significant rain in the upper Danube catchments and 2 days after we left, ships were unable to get through Passau due to high water.  The flow was very strong and the captain had difficulty docking in Vienna and sometimes it felt like we were surfing towards Budapest.

Wow, that’s pretty crazy. I didn’t even think about the difficulty in docking because of the strength of the river. There is so much to negotiate. It will be very interesting to see what happens this week with the flooding and if they’re able to make it past Passau. 

[notamermaid]

5 hours ago, reeves35 said:

Is this time of year comparatively quiet on the Rhine and Danube?  The main season is now over and, I assume, the Christmas cruises don't really reach their peak until December.

I am not sure about the Danube, here on the Rhine I can say that tourism is reduced now, seeing that it is getting cold and rainy. Far fewer people go into nature. But fewer river cruise ships are on docking lists as well, November is just not that attractive. Christmas markets are a big draw everywhere. River cruise ships will be more visible again on the river but I dare say not as many as in summer. People always want to sail the rivers, the season really only ends just after New Year. But the last few years have seen the sailings starting earlier again and some companies even decide to sail in January and February due to demand, just a few itineraries but those dates are out there now if one is interested in sailing then.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Passau gauge is at 717cm. The rain in Bavaria is continuing today with tomorrow equally rainy. Wednesday should see a brighter sky again.

 

I have had a look at the river levels in Hungary. There is certainly a big rise in all the graphs but, without being able to relate this to river cruising, the levels do not look critical to me. None that I looked at where reaching a flooding level marking line.

 

notamermaid

 

[smithp7]

5 hours ago, notamermaid said:

Passau gauge is at 717cm. The rain in Bavaria is continuing today with tomorrow equally rainy. Wednesday should see a brighter sky again.

 

I have had a look at the river levels in Hungary. There is certainly a big rise in all the graphs but, without being able to relate this to river cruising, the levels do not look critical to me. None that I looked at where reaching a flooding level marking line.

 

notamermaid

 

Hi Notamermaid, Thanks so much for checking on that area. Today they leave for Vienna for 2 days and the weather looks much nicer there. Pat

[notamermaid]

1 hour ago, smithp7 said:

Today they leave for Vienna for 2 days and the weather looks much nicer there. Pat

You are right, it looks nicer in Austria. We had that warmer day here, looks as if it is in Vienna now. Tomorrow they will get rain in Austria but Vienna looks drier than Innsbruck:

https://wetter.orf.at/oes/prognose

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Passau is at 679cm. This is better than this morning of course, but the river is still high and carrying a high volume of water upstream. All that water needs to go through Passau so we will continue to see high levels, it is just not clear how high. To give you an idea in colours:

Yellow is level 1, orange is level 2 and red is level 3. That one is Kelheim. Passau is below a flooding level now, so back on green. Again, the problem at Passau is that bridge.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Both Kelheim and Regensburg have peaked. The wave is now in the stretch where we saw the low water last month. The graph at Pfelling has gone up strongly:

 

Passau is currently at 672cm.

 

It is getting colder, so snow will now fall in areas above 600m (before it was above 800m to 1000m). But overall the weather will improve, meaning more sunshine and far less precipitation. To give you an idea: Regensburg lies at 337m above sea level.

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

[smithp7]

6 hours ago, notamermaid said:

Both Kelheim and Regensburg have peaked. The wave is now in the stretch where we saw the low water last month. The graph at Pfelling has gone up strongly:

 

Passau is currently at 672cm.

 

It is getting colder, so snow will now fall in areas above 600m (before it was above 800m to 1000m). But overall the weather will improve, meaning more sunshine and far less precipitation. To give you an idea: Regensburg lies at 337m above sea level.

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

Wow that is amazing the difference in the water levels in one month. If I understand this correctly it seems like they may be able to sail through to Regensburg without any issues?

[notamermaid]

57 minutes ago, smithp7 said:

Wow that is amazing the difference in the water levels in one month. If I understand this correctly it seems like they may be able to sail through to Regensburg without any issues?

I really depends on when they are scheduled to be in Passau and how high the ship is, i.e. the headroom under the bridge.

 

This is the 31 day graph of Pfelling:

 

Passau is at 689cm.

 

notamermaid

 

[smithp7]

1 hour ago, notamermaid said:

I really depends on when they are scheduled to be in Passau and how high the ship is, i.e. the headroom under the bridge.

 

This is the 31 day graph of Pfelling:

 

Passau is at 689cm.

 

notamermaid

 

They will be in Passau on Thursday and they leave for Regensburg that night.There ship is the Viking Alta. Thanks, Pat

[smithp7]

9 hours ago, smithp7 said:

They will be in Passau on Thursday and they leave for Regensburg that night.There ship is the Viking Alta. Thanks, Pat

Actually, I’m sorry they will be in Passau on Friday and Regensburg on Saturday and leaving the boat on Sunday. So far it looks like they’re doing fine and I am so happy for them! Thanks, Pat

[notamermaid]

4 hours ago, smithp7 said:

So far it looks like they’re doing fine and I am so happy for them!

That is good to read.

 

Vilshofen has peaked so the water is further downstream. Interestingly, the corresponding rise does not happen at Passau. There is a lock in between - and nature of course, meaning floodplains - so we can assume that this can alleviate potential problems at Passau. I am not familiar with the intricacies of the geography and man-made structures there. The graph looks more pleasant that I expected:

 

Compared to Vilshofen:

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

The situation has much improved along the Danube in Germany. Passau is at 659cm and will further go down.

 

We have high water now but it is not that long ago that the river was low...

 

I will get a bit more together as regards statistics but have had a look already at one aspect. How many days has the level at Pfelling fallen below the crucial 290cm this year? I have counted a staggering 85 days.

 

That is not the worst year recently by the way. A while ago I did the same for 2018 and stopped counting at 110 days (gets your head dizzy looking at the tables with all the figures). It may be over 120 days.

 

notamermaid

 

Edited November 22, 2023 by notamermaid
added image

[smithp7]

5 hours ago, notamermaid said:

The situation has much improved along the Danube in Germany. Passau is at 659cm and will further go down.

 

We have high water now but it is not that long ago that the river was low...

 

I will get a bit more together as regards statistics but have had a look already at one aspect. How many days has the level at Pfelling fallen below the crucial 290cm this year? I have counted a staggering 85 days.

 

That is not the worst year recently by the way. A while ago I did the same for 2018 and stopped counting at 110 days (gets your head dizzy looking at the tables with all the figures). It may be over 120 days.

 

notamermaid

 

Wow that’s amazing. What would you attribute this to? Has it always been this way from time to time?  Someone we took a tour with from Passau blamed some of it on the use of Hydro power plants. Do you think that’s true? It’s very difficult to know the best time to take a cruise on the Danube or the Rhine. We have another river cruise on the Rhine in The beginning of June 2025. Hopefully that will be uneventful:) Thanks, Pat

[CastleCritic]

for what little good these datapoints are Ive done 5 Europe cruises with no changes due to water levels

 

rhine April 2019

Danube November 2019

Rhine-Main November 2021 (though this one gets an * because the starting point WAS changed due to dredging that happened due to flooding in the spring and THEN somewhat low water caused by sediment that the floods drug along causing some havoc the days right before I arrived but the actual water level was ok)

Seine May 2022

Danube (east) May 2023 (the next week..flooding)

 

Edited November 23, 2023 by CastleCritic