Rhine water levels 2024 and similar topics

[peppajay]

Thank you notamermaid for the information and videos regarding Carnival. It certainly looks like a lot of fun is had by all 😊

[notamermaid]

5 hours ago, peppajay said:

Thank you notamermaid for the information and videos regarding Carnival. It certainly looks like a lot of fun is had by all 😊

Good to read you found them interesting. I have been thinking, if one is okay with drab weather and widely varying temperatures that you cannot predict - it is mild with rain and grey skies right now - then Carnival can be an interesting time to be in Germany on a river cruise. One may not like it but one can say that one has seen the wondrous sight. 😉

 

More ships than I thought were here last week and this that I spotted online. Will get back to that.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

So, apart from the two Viking ships, I spotted - on online tracking websites - these ships sailing. The Viva One I knew would be doing short trips on the Rhine, some starting in Frankfurt and then coming onto "my" river. I had seen the offers in past years but forgotten about them: the Thurgau Prestige (for her Swiss operator) does short trips, too. In addition to those I also saw the Edelweiss. She is a Scylla ship sailing for Thurgau Travel. One of her itineraries is specifically focused on Basel Carnival. Do you remember the announcement last year by Amawaterways that they would start the 2024 season early? A few days ago the Amalucia started her first itinerary this year in Amsterdam, missed (!) the big day, Rose Monday, in Cologne and is now approaching Breisach. A-Rosa sailed throughout January with several ships but is having a break for most of February. All this only applies to the Rhine.

 

notamermaid

 

[RDVIK2016]

On 2/13/2024 at 2:36 PM, notamermaid said:

 

About the Viking Tialfi. The ship was indeed in Cologne yesterday. Unusually, it docked in Deutz, the "schäl sick", in Rhenish meaning the other side of the Rhine, usually the right embankment, i.e. in Cologne that is Deutz and other districts. This has happened before, not often at all, but it appears to be happening a bit more than let us say two years ago. No idea if this was to do with high water or even Carnival. I cannot tell you the exact spot. You can walk across the Hohenzollern Bridge. Not a big deal if you are mobile:

 

notamermaid

 

We docked at a berth in Deutz just north of the Hohnzollern Bridge on our cruise last April. We were on Tialfi from Amsterdam to Basel.  I thought it was good spot and we easily walked over the bridge a couple of times during the day and evening. The "love locks" cover every millimeter of space on the fence on the bridge. I got a kick out of the combination locks which defeat the purpose of closing the lock and throwing the key into the river so one's love is sealed forever.

Looking Google maps the area of the dock is identified as Kennedy Ufer and it is right by the RTL studios and Kölnmesse trade fair grounds. 

RDVIK

[notamermaid]

19 hours ago, RDVIK2016 said:

Looking Google maps the area of the dock is identified as Kennedy Ufer and it is right by the RTL studios and Kölnmesse trade fair grounds. 

Thank you. Yes, it is close and convenient. In Koblenz, due to lack of space, they now also dock on the right bank at least occasionally. I guess they will show neither location in the brochures or online. Of course, neither is industrial, just not the "prime spot". Niehl harbour in Cologne is industrial. And it is important to remember that no river cruise ships can dock in Strasbourg city centre as it is not on the Rhine but the Ill (capital i, two small ll) river. Ships are sometimes in the commercial harbour areas or in Kehl in Germany just across the river. I am not familiar with the Rhine river docks in Strasbourg in detail.

 

In Rüdesheim, other river cruise companies dock closer to town than Viking. the prime spot is about where it says "Weingarten in der Brömserburg", Viking's private landing stage is marked on here:

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

[notamermaid]

On 2/7/2024 at 1:30 AM, notamermaid said:

Statistics take a bit of time to compile and need explaining. This would be something like x days of a water level below y in year z at Kaub.

I have made use of this quiet time and had a look at the statistics. There are a few websites I use but none are as good as the Bavarian authorities' ones for the various gauges of the Main and Danube (and the other rivers in their realm). Maxau gauge on the Rhine has some annual graphs but that area is not a concern in low water, our "gauge of concern" is Kaub in the Rhine Gorge. That is the place that cuts the most popular itinerary Basel to Amsterdam "in half". See the conversation of February 6/7.

 

The statistics being a bit "awkward" and time consuming to compile I have tried to condense it and keep it simple. A quick explanation to what follows. I have no older data than year 2008. River levels above 100cm are no concern (i.e. as regards low water) so I used that figure to show that a specific year had no levels of concern. Years with lower levels I have looked at more closely and for them I have included more specific figures. A figure below 80cm gets large river cruise ships in the realm of getting problems with sailing due to their individual draft. So there is no way for me to know if a particular ship can sail or not. The authorities issue no ban in low water, a captain decides for his ship if he will sail or not. Having condensed the data (and making the counting of individual days simpler for me), I cannot get every year to match, so figures differ slightly in below x cm. This list is compiled from the Federal authorities' and a shipping company's websites:

2008 no days below 100cm

2009 15 days below 80cm

2010 no days below 100cm

2011 30 days below 79cm

2012 no days below 100cm

2013 no days below 100cm

2014 no days below 100cm

2015 30 days below 79cm

2016 20 days below 79cm

2017 28 days below 79cm

2018 110 days below 81cm

2019 1 day below 100cm

2020 1 day below 83cm

2021 13 days below 80cm

2022 42 days below 80cm

2023 8 days below 80cm

 

Just in case you are wondering, the figure for 2018 is correct. It was an abysmal year for river cruising - and I dare say for us locals a bad year as well.

 

notamermaid

 

Edited February 17 by notamermaid
clarification

[notamermaid]

I had forgotten to mention this in previous conversations about Cologne docking: there is construction work going on, so one or two docking spaces may not be available, but it appears to be only where KD normally docks. Here is a plan of all the docking areas, courtesy of nicko cruises, if you are interested:

https://www.nicko-cruises.de/anlegestellen/koeln

 

I am not familiar with the details of the construction work, your river cruise company will of course know about this. It concerns 235m of embankment, if I have understood the authorities website correctly. For those interested in the construction process, here is an automatic translation of the relevant page of Cologne city council: https://www.stadt-koeln.de/leben-in-koeln/verkehr/baustellenbilder-zum-baufortschritt-der-kragplatte

Unfortunately, the flooding in December has delayed their plans.

This is what the area looked like before construction work began:

https://www.riverdocking.com/de/anleger/koeln-bastei

 

Further upstream - I have learnt - at Neuwied the authorities are not really any further in obtaining a landing stage for the new embankment (ships cannot dock alongside but need a long jetty due to the low water issues that are bound to happen seasonally) as third-party involvement has lead to complicated legal matters that need sorting.

 

New river cruise ships: two ships will be on my river this year that will leave soon again and mostly sail the Danube. The Amadeus Nova is supposed to sail from June. The Viva Enjoy - originally to be called the Viva Three - has been delayed and will now be ready in November.

 

notamermaid

 

Edited February 18 by notamermaid
added link

[RDVIK2016]

22 hours ago, notamermaid said:

Thank you. Yes, it is close and convenient. In Koblenz, due to lack of space, they now also dock on the right bank at least occasionally. I guess they will show neither location in the brochures or online. Of course, neither is industrial, just not the "prime spot". Niehl harbour in Cologne is industrial. And it is important to remember that no river cruise ships can dock in Strasbourg city centre as it is not on the Rhine but the Ill (capital i, two small ll) river. Ships are sometimes in the commercial harbour areas or in Kehl in Germany just across the river. I am not familiar with the Rhine river docks in Strasbourg in detail.

 

In Rüdesheim, other river cruise companies dock closer to town than Viking. the prime spot is about where it says "Weingarten in der Brömserburg", Viking's private landing stage is marked on here:

 

notamermaid

 

The walk from the Viking dock at Rüdesheim was 15 minutes or less on level ground and smooth pavement.  Our docking location for the Koblenz visit was actually upstream at Braubach, which makes sense because it is on the same side of the river as the Marksburg castle and the Ehrenbreitstein fortress (and very close to Marksburg).  We took the gondola from Ehrenbreitstein over the river to Koblenz and the bus took us from there back to Braubach. 

 

Regarding the river name: We don't get much help from several common fonts to distinguish upper case "I" (aye) and lower case "l" (el) and it is odd how many rivers have short names beginning with "I" aye, Ill, Ilz, Ilm!

 

RDVIK

[gnome12]

40 minutes ago, RDVIK2016 said:

Regarding the river name: We don't get much help from several common fonts to distinguish upper case "I" (aye) and lower case "l" (el) and it is odd how many rivers have short names beginning with "I" aye, Ill, Ilz, Ilm!

Any serif font will distinguish between them, but we have gotten very used to sans serif fonts (like Arial). 

[notamermaid]

Good point about the fonts, thank you. In Times New Roman, i.e. a serif font as opposed to a sans serif font as is the default setting here,  it is a bit easier to see: Ill, Ilz, Ilm.

 

notamermaid

 

Edit:

@gnome12 we had the same idea at the same time.

Edited February 18 by notamermaid

[notamermaid]

Temperatures are mild, the river levels are rising but fine. In February of 1784 it was very different and led to one of the worst flooding disasters in Europe ever recorded. It is a "little ice age" at least partly attributed to the eruption of a volcano in Island the previous year. During the course of February the weather warmed up, snow turned into rain and the ice on the river started melting. It was about to crack and disaster would almost inevitably struck a few days later...

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

To the present day. We have storm warnings for much of the West of Germany, that is the hills and mountain ranges adjoining the Rhine valley down to Düsseldorf. The high Black Forest will see the strongest storms. Quite a bit of rain, too. This will of course make the rivers rise, but Maxau gauge is not showing flooding. No levels significant for navigation are forecast (yet).

 

notamermaid

 

 

[notamermaid]

There has been a sharp rise in the water level at Maxau gauge, more than expected on Wednesday. We know see the graph go over the line of the navigational flood mark I during the course of tomorrow. Official flooding as determined by the authorities is not forecast but could be reached if there is a turn for the worse in the weather. In the Middle Rhine valley Koblenz is likely to get to flood mark I. The Moselle is carrying high volumes of water but Trier gauge is now slightly on the way down again, it has peaked already.

 

The weather has mostly calmed down.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Koblenz has now gone to navigational flood mark I. The level should peak tomorrow and is unlikely to reach official flooding status. All in all still good.

 

The few ships sailing should be impacted only minimally.

 

As a curious side note: there is one ship currently sailing on the Rhine that is on an errant for "its own sake". The MS Sans Souci normally sails mostly in the East of Germany, on the Elbe and thereabouts. She made a special trip to her new home port of Basel in order to register with the Swiss authorities. Ownership of the vessel has changed so she will soon appear with Swiss flag instead of German flag. Info from Binnenschifferforum. The MS Sans Souci on marinetraffic.com: https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/details/ships/shipid:136408/mmsi:211482300/imo:0/vessel:SANS_SOUCI#overview

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Back to an event I mentioned a few days ago. Remember that volcano in Iceland that caused disruptions in air travel several years ago?  Ever heard of the Mississippi River freezing over a very long stretch? Read about parties on the frozen Rhine river? These phenomenons are somewhat connected. That almost unpronounceable volcano in Iceland is not the first one to have caused trouble. 1783 and then the winter months in early 1784 became a "little ice age" due to the extended eruption of a volcano, which was more like gas seeping out of holes in the ground for months. All this was taken into the atmosphere and distributed widely over countries and whole continents. After hot, misty days, a very cold winter and much precipitation, the weather changed in February 1784. On the Rhine the ice cracked, melting and floating down the river in huge blocks. We will get to that again. First, here is a very good description of what happened during those months. A lot of detail but a highly interesting read I find: https://www.marinersmuseum.org/2023/01/iceland-and-the-european-floods-of-1783-1784/

 

notamermaid

 

[Canal archive]

The Thames in London froze regularly during the 17th & 18th century in 1607 they started the Frost Fair, tents, stalls, bowling etc. The last time the Thames completely froze was said to be 1814. Although I couldn’t find out if a volcano was involved but I wouldn’t be surprised. Thanks Notamermaid for that interesting titbit of info, interesting.

[notamermaid]

The winters tended to be colder in Europe for a long time and within living memory we have had ice on the Rhine. Without the involvement of a volcano. But with 1814, which may have been without the "help" of a volcano, you are close to what happened in 1815, the eruption of the Tamburo, causing the "year without summer" in 1816 - and the cultural achievements of the British in 1816/17, that is Mary Shelley's Frankenstein written in Switzerland, Lord Byron's travels along the Rhine and William Turner's paintings of the river.

 

Just after the Second World War the Rhine froze "properly" for the last time. The current is now too strong, the water too warm, the winters are too warm and the ships too plentiful to create a scenario in which we may see more that a few little thin sheets of ice close to the river banks.

 

Close to locks where the water is more stagnant the chances of ice are of course higher. We have had a bit of that on the Moselle, some years back, when there was a bit more ice floating.

 

notamermaid

 

 

[Canal archive]

Turners paintings are superb watching their evolution over the years is fascinating.

[notamermaid]

Ah, yes. Have not mentioned yet that Turner came to the Rhine and Moselle twice. You can see the style evolve between those two visits.

 

Here is a news reel from British Pathé about one of the last times that ships got stuck on the Rhine. Along the banks, for example in a slow moving arm of the Rhine between bank and island, you could go onto the river. This is from 1962: https://www.britishpathe.com/asset/247365/

 

notamermaid

 

[Canal archive]

Wow!

[sharkster77]

@notamermaid, do you have any knowledge of what water issues are possible in the Netherlands?  They seem to know what they're doing regarding water control, land reclamation, etc., so we wonder if they have flooding under control as well.

 

We sail on a tulip cruise in about 6 weeks and wonder if I need to be following water conditions in the Netherlands.  Thanks for all you do for these boards.

[notamermaid]

That is a good question. To be honest, I am not familiar with the Netherlands. They have locks, sluices and an admirable system of water control all round - as we know they rely on sophisticated solutions for their low-lying lands. Flooding does happen and they certainly had problems in December and January to the point of being almost non-manageable. The system of recording water levels is a bit different in the gauges so a bit more difficult for me to follow. At Emmerich, Germany's last gauge, you can check the levels and after that is Lobith beyond the border. I show you want I mean. This is the page from the German authorities, the caption says that the data for Lobith and Pannerdense Kop comes unchecked from the Dutch authorities: https://www.elwis.de/DE/dynamisch/gewaesserkunde/wasserstaende/index.php?target=2&gw=RHEIN

 

The Dutch page for Lobith is this one: https://waterinfo.rws.nl/#/publiek/waterhoogte/Lobith(LOBI)/details?parameters=Waterhoogte___20Oppervlaktewater___20t.o.v.___20Normaal___20Amsterdams___20Peil___20in___20cm

I cannot say how the authorities react to flooding, i.e. if there is a ban or not at a certain level.

 

notamermaid

 

 

[Canal archive]

So precise so Dutch!

[notamermaid]

It was on 28 February, 29 February or 1 March that the Rhine reached its highest level at many places along the river in the winter of 1784. You can find markings in towns and cities that record the event on walls of buildings. Some are not spectacular because the context is not clear any more, for example in Mainz where the street level has changed at the tower in this photo and the buildings and flood protection measures have changed the surrounding streets: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pegel_Mainz#/media/Datei:Mainz_Holzturm.jpg

Others are more striking, guess which year is the top one, you will find out when you zoom in: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/09/Hochwasser_Linz_am_Rhein.jpg

 

This one is from Neuwied, it so high above one's head that you cannot touch it with your arm (at least I cannot):

 

People desperately tried to blast the ice and push it away from buildings using poles. Many settlements along the river from Koblenz to Cologne suffered heavy damage, houses were swept away, near Bonn a church was severely damaged. In Mülheim, then an independent village but now a district of Cologne, was partly destroyed. Another part of modern-day Cologne called Riehl was also inundated. The flooding changed many lives. The French publisher Louis-Francois Mettra lost his printing workshop in that village for example. He set up his business again in 1785 in Neuwied and became even more successful, editing, printing and distributing journals and books mostly in French language.

 

A church door in Cologne carries this marking with text: https://altes-koeln.de/wiki/Datei:HochwassermarkeMariaLyskirchen-1784.jpg

 

notamermaid

 

[Izengolf]

Notamermaid, I'm happy to follow your information this year for the Rhine and will be sure to add anything I read about for the Lower Danube on that thread.

 

We just booked Uniworld's second sailing for the Magnificent Moselle on the SS Victoria on July 6. Hopefully the water levels will be good enough to allow us to make it back and forth at Kaub. Looking forward to the itinerary and enjoying the gorgeous ship!

Edited March 1 by Izengolf