Danube water levels 2024 and similar topics - plus tips and info

[Canal archive]

Ohh do be careful!
On the Douro with Scenic, plenty of staff keeping an eye on all and a most interesting experience the Bridge is totally retracted.

[notamermaid]

2 hours ago, AnhaltER1960 said:

There are warnings of massive rainfalls in Austria, Slovenia, Slovakia, Czechia, Poland and south east Germany for the next days.

I feared as much. The authorities in Dresden very much indicated problems coming up.

 

We have seen Pfelling gauge climb to 382cm, so rain will hit with the gauges at a good not low level. Should be fine but a slight change in the direction of clouds could lead to rain rising the German Danube to a level that could be a problem at the bridges.

 

You can follow the warnings on this map: https://www.dwd.de/EN/weather/warnings/warnings_node.html;jsessionid=6397ADC506884A875DE8EE7FFFA736CD.live21071

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Linz gauge in Austria is at 375cm and expected to rise to 420cm on the 14th. That is the most likely figure. There is still a lot of uncertainty in what that day will bring. Flood warning is only from 550cm, so it does not look too bad right now.

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

[notamermaid]

Low water can be a blessing in disguise when you need to work in the river - or take something out. The authorities on the Elbe would prefer to have the level low to deal with the bridge at Dresden. In Serbia there is much else lying in the river that is a problem for river traffic - old war ships. Relics from WWII are resurfacing in the low water conditions now in the Danube and with part funding from the EU the authorities are removing the ships gradually. Here is a story on it (I hope they got all the facts right...): https://www.cbsnews.com/news/***-ships-world-war-danube-river/

 

notamermaid

 

[moonriver54]

https://www.copernicus.eu/en/media/image-day-gallery/arctic-front-brings-unseasonal-cold-western-europe

 

Some interesting satellite imagery.  Looks like quite a front!

Edited Thursday at 01:17 PM by moonriver54

[Canal archive]

Yes it started getting colder on Tuesday evening definitely not pleasant.🥶

[notamermaid]

We are all "freezing" here. I may put the heating on. It has dropped to 15 Celsius and the rain and wind do not help. I expect it is similar on the Danube. The sudden change in weather has been a bit much for many people. Definitely arctic air.

 

We may see the phenomenon that Pfelling gauge may not rise much as the weather front from the Northeast has a wedge towards the Isar, Passau and the Inn and then the Lower Alps. Passau gauge has a fast rise in the forecast, Pfelling does not. There are no warnings for the Upper Danube. That may change as some rain is falling over the Southern tributaries. A screenshot:

 

notamermaid

 

[Izengolf]

For the Lower Danube, our weekend is also looking quite chilly and rainy before more pleasant weather next week. We have cleaned the chimney and brought in wood just in case some early season fires are needed in the evening. 

[moonriver54]

18 minutes ago, Izengolf said:

For the Lower Danube, our weekend is also looking quite chilly and rainy before more pleasant weather next week. We have cleaned the chimney and brought in wood just in case some early season fires are needed in the evening. 

Any idea how water levels are looking for river cruises on the Lower Danube between Bucharest (Oltenita) and Budapest?

[Izengolf]

8 minutes ago, moonriver54 said:

29 minutes ago, Izengolf said:

For the Lower Danube, our weekend is also looking quite chilly and rainy before more pleasant weather next week. We have cleaned the chimney and brought in wood just in case some early season fires are needed in the evening. 

Expand  

Any idea how water levels are looking for river cruises on the Lower Danube between Bucharest (Oltenita) and Budapest?

To be honest, the points on this website show green but I am not sure if that means good or just the colour marker they use. If you have checked roll calls for Lower Danube of any line, passengers may have the best up to date information on what is happening there:

https://www.afdj.ro/en/content/danube-water-level

[The Hudson Co. Landlubber]

@notamermaid I feel like I owe you a tuition check for what I am learning!  Thanks for the education.  But as always I am a poor student and wondering your thoughts on the outlook for upper Danube the week of 9/26?

 

So excited for this bucket list trip!  (Ending with a few days at the end of Oktoberfest).

 

Thanks again.

[notamermaid]

2 hours ago, The Hudson Co. Landlubber said:

But as always I am a poor student and wondering your thoughts on the outlook for upper Danube the week of 9/26?

Not a poor student. We are equally good or bad at reading a crystal ball, that is what it feels like at the moment. I can only say that low water looks a bit unlikely and with better weather predicted for next week we can hope that this rise in levels we will see potentially causing trouble at the bridges (mainly Passau) over the weekend will turn into just a short wave. The Inn is carrying the heaviest burden, with the Isar and the Salzach also draining a lot of water into the Danube. The Inn draining the Alps, it often carries a higher volume of water than the Danube at Passau, where they both meet and with the Ilz make the city famous for its spectacular river setting.

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inn#/media/Datei:Aerial_image_of_Passau.jpg

 

Passau may well rise to 600cm Saturday lunchtime. The Lech will react strongly but it is not clear how much that will add in figures Sunday/Monday as the Danube itself upstream from Regensburg is getting little extra water. I see the problems more at Passau and in Austria. Achleiten gauge (the first one in Austria) expects mild flooding status Saturday into Sunday night. The wave and additional water from other tributaries will get to Budapest on the 15th. The Hungarian authorities have already posted warnings. This is the precipitation they expect:

 

A German weather report says that much more rain will hit Liberec, the Northeast of Bohemia and Silesia, causing flooding of the Oder river.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

The radar image of Germany this morning shows the anomaly in the weather pattern, at least for September:

 

The radar film shows the rain coming in from the North. We will have a cool, but cloudy to sunny day in the Rhine valley. In the Alps there will be early snow down to altitudes where we would not see it in September.

 

It is clear that the Inn, Ilz and Salzach will flood, the rain affecting the Danube and the Isar as well to some extent, but the problem again will be at Passau. The Danube gauge forecast now shows 700cm for during the night from Saturday into Sunday. So while the Lech is definitely bringing a good volume of water to the Danube, your ship may fit under Bogen railway bridge still but the waters from Passau's rivers may stop your ship from sailing under the suspension bridge. We will know more tomorrow.

 

notamermaid

 

 

[steamboats]

I have friends who wanted to go on a Danube river cruise out of Passau today. They were informed that due to the expected high water situation the ship will stay in Vienna. So they are bussed to Vienna today. They were also informed that the Austrian authorities are to close the Danube river in the Wachau area.

 

Lots of ships are gathering in Vienna right now.

 

steamboats

[Canal archive]

If you’ve had anything like our recent weather I’m definitely not surprised!

[jcruizer]

We are due to board tomorrow from Budapest to Amsterdam... Time will tell..

 

[notamermaid]

1 hour ago, jcruizer said:

We are due to board tomorrow from Budapest to Amsterdam... Time will tell..

 

Hope things will work out, but it is not looking good at all.

 

What a turn of events - normally we would be looking at Pfelling's dropping level wondering how long it will stay over 300cm.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

A brief look at the gauges map shows the effect of the rain already quite clearly:

 

No problems upstream from Deggendorf (the mouth of the Isar), Passau still on green, but the waters are coming from the Isar, Inn and Salzach, with a bit more from the North. But the worst areas are the Vltava, Elbe and Oder. Passau gauge at 674cm.

 

Have not got the map ready for Austria, but Linz gauge is rising fast now. Mild flooding will happen, it could be in the range of a two-year-event or five-year-event.

 

notamermaid

 

[Kenster]

Very different from two years ago this week when the Danube was very low. We were on Avalon, Budapest to Amsterdam, and were fortunate to be able to sail several days without incident. But at Passau, the water was just too low. So we did a ship swap and were bused about an hour to Vilshofen (I think). It was painless. Avalon did a fantastic job of handling everything. And by that afternoon, we had a $400 credit on our credit card for our very minor inconvenience.  

[moonriver54]

I was poking around this morning looking for information regarding current Danube water levels and found the following site.  If you select "More" for any of the individual stations it offers quite a bit of information.  Passau is quite interesting with a very sudden rise in water levels.  

 

Good luck to everybody departing this week on river cruises.  We cruised last May during extensive flooding on the Moselle River and Avalon took EXCELLENT care of us despite the circumstances.  We still had a wonderful time and I hope you do too!

 

https://www.danubehis.org/latest-results/

[notamermaid]

5 hours ago, steamboats said:

They were also informed that the Austrian authorities are to close the Danube river in the Wachau area.

 

At Ybbs the river is now above the HSW line (highest level permitted for river traffic). While the Austrian authorities apparently have a bit more leeway as regards that then the German authorities they will ban traffic at a certain level higher than 493cm. The situation now, 537cm:

https://www.noel.gv.at/wasserstand/#/de/Messstellen/Details/207126/Wasserstand/3Tage

 

For your info only, I have no information when this river traffic ban will come.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

I see that the Viking Gymir is "rushing" towards Greifenstein lock. One chamber has been closed there already. We definitely see the situation worsen this afternoon and decisions for closure being made.

 

Pfelling gauge has risen quite a bit but the situation looks manageable upstream from there. We will see much water coming from the Regen river which is flooding but that is not meeting a very high volume coming from the Danube upstream from Kelheim. It has been raining at those tributaries on the German Upper Danube but the volume is nowhere near what Austria is seeing.

 

Again, for those travelling the grand journeys: the Main and Rhine are okay.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Update: The Viking Gymir has stopped in its tracks literally and is returning. They must have been notified that Greifenstein lock is closed almost at the same time that I posted that one chamber is closed. Now the full lock is closed. The Gymir is now docked in Tulln:

 

notamermaid

 

[luv2trvlmep]

We are scheduled on the Viking Ingv departing Passau on 9/24 after 3 days in Budapest, flooding is unexpected really thought we would be dealing with low water. Looks like the rain is clearing after Monday, hopefully the river water levels will recede over the next week. But if they don’t I have confidence in Viking making the trip a great adventure. Keep the people in this region in our thoughts as they deal with these rains. 

[notamermaid]

Decisions - closures. Wachau valley closed. You can see them here:

https://www.doris.bmk.gv.at/en/fairway-information/fairway-condition

 

notamermaid