Emerald Cruises has not published which ship sails this departure.
Every water level below is measured against a line we work out for the ship class named above, using
its design How deep a ship sits in the water. That depth sets how much water it needs underneath. of 1.60 m.
That is our own assumption, not a figure from the cruise line. If Emerald Cruises names a ship
that sits deeper in the water, its line would be higher than the one drawn here.
Latest readings: Monday 5 October 2026. Water levels change daily. Check again closer to your departure.
The Daily River Watch
Monday 5 October 2026
River levels this morning — not the levels expected on your sailing dates
Rain check: about 35 mm of rain is forecast above Cologne over fourteen days. Kaub gets almost none. The forecast reaches 18 October. It does not change any status on this page.
3ports far below the line
0ports below the line
0ports above the line
0ports on lock-controlled reaches
3ports with no line to compare
0ports on stretches we watch no gauge on
1port with no river transit recorded
0ports where the ship is not sailing
What the statuses mean — each one is measured against the level we estimate a ship of this class needs
▼ Far below the lineThe measured level is under half of Waterlogged's reference line for a ship of this class.
▼ Below the lineThe measured level is below Waterlogged's reference line for a ship of this class. It is not yet under half that level.
✓ Above the lineThe measured level is at or above Waterlogged's reference line for a ship of this class.
⚓ Lock-controlledLocks hold the level on this stretch, so low water rarely stops a ship here. High water,
maintenance, closures, restrictions on the locks and the cruise line's own decision can still affect a day.
— No line publishedThe reading is real. Nobody publishes a level for this stretch to measure it against.
— No reading yetWe include this location on your daily schedule but there is no data available.
— No gauge on this stretchWe watch no gauge on this stretch of river. There is no reading for the day and no line
to measure one against. We are not telling you the water is fine, and we are not telling you anything
holds it at a working level — those are things we have not established here.
⚑ In portThe ship is in port on this day. Our record holds no river transit for it, so there is
no stretch of river to read. That is what we hold, not a claim about where the ship goes.
⌂ Not sailingThe ship does not sail on this day. Your itinerary spends it on land, so there is no
river level to read and no low-water question to answer.
A gauge level is not the depth of the navigable channel, not the room under your ship's keel,
and not your ship's draft. The rain forecast further down uses one more status of its own,
temporarily unavailable, when that feed is missing or out of date.
The official forward outlook
Waterlogged does not provide its own independent future river depth forecast. We show
today's gauge reading and compare them with our own reference lines and other historic
data. Where Waterlogged has received licenses, it includes river forecasts and clearly
identifies the sources where they are from. Waterlogged provides direct links to the gauge
forecasts from national providers. BfG has given us permission to show their six week
forecasts.
Your daily sailing schedule
Below are the ports you travel to and the depth of the water, as of today's date, and how much
water is needed for your ship to sail. A graph shows the median or normal river depth.
Two words will help. A A riverside station that measures the water level in centimetres against a fixed zero point. is a riverside station that
measures water level. Your ship's How deep a ship sits in the water. That depth sets how much water it needs underneath. is how deep it sits
in the water. This affects how much water it needs below the hull.
Day1
Zurich - Basel
Wednesday 25 November
⚑In port
The ship is in port on this day. Our record holds no river transit for it, so there is no stretch of river to read.
The ship is in port on this day.
Full details
Our record holds no river transit for this day, so there is no stretch of river being read for it
and no water level that applies to it.
Where the ship is
in port
River transit on record
none for this day
Level reading
none applies — no stretch of river is being read
This says what our record holds, not what the ship does. We are not telling you it stays
alongside, and we have not worked out whether locks hold any water near this city, so we do not say
either. On the days this route is on the river, the readings above and below say so.
Day2
Breisach
Thursday 26 November · Germany
—No line published
This is a real reading. There is nothing published to measure it against.
285 cm
Scale 0–400 cm
285 cm measured
Nobody publishes a target level for this stretch, so there is nothing to measure the reading against. We show the reading and the direction, and nothing more.
Water level now (5 October)
285 cm
⬇Falling — the river level fell 2 cm in the last three days.
Water levels are measured at the Maxau gauge – German federal waterways gauge service (PEGELONLINE). No official data — the reading is official; there is simply nothing published to compare it against.
We do not draw a measured history graph for this gauge. The reading above is current and official; the archive the graph would be drawn from is not ours to republish.
The official forecast for this gauge
BfG publishes no 14-day forecast for this gauge.
📊BfG's 6-week outlook for Maxau BfG issued this forecast: 2026-10-01
BfG's 6-week outlook for Maxau
Published by Bundesanstalt für Gewässerkunde (BfG).
BfG issued this forecast: 2026-10-01.
Each line is one whole week, which is how BfG publishes this product. It gives no figure for any single day, and neither do we.
BfG's own weekly figures for Maxau, in cm at the gauge.
Week
Lower
Middle
Upper
1–7 October
281
294
308
8–14 October
295
339
387
15–21 October
278
338
408
22–28 October
279
358
461
29 Oct–4 Nov
280
369
494
5–11 November
278
374
513
The three columns are BfG's own 5th, 50th and 95th percentiles from their weather-driven runs, in centimetres at the gauge.
Forecast water levels are from BfG. Waterlogged only reports historical and current data.
Every figure above is a water level at the gauge, in centimetres. It is not
the depth of water under a ship and it is not a ship's draft.
Official forecast: BfG six-week outlook for Maxau — likely ranges for each week
Published by Bundesanstalt für Gewässerkunde (BfG).
Nothing published today can tell you the level on 26 November.Germany's federal hydrology institute. It publishes the official water-level forecasts and outlooks.'s daily forecast only reaches fourteen days ahead. Your call here is 52 days away. We have picked the product that does reach it, so you do not have to.
That product is BfG's six-week outlook. It is not a daily prediction. It shows likely ranges for each week. Each range is where that week's level is expected to fall, with the odds attached. The ranges come from many past-weather what-if runs, not from a single-line prediction.
The button below opens Maxau's own sheet directly. Find the week beginning 23 November.
From 12 November, this port will be fourteen days away. The daily forecast will then reach your date, and this block will switch itself over to it.
This is a real reading. There is nothing published to measure it against.
285 cm
Scale 0–400 cm
285 cm measured
Nobody publishes a target level for this stretch, so there is nothing to measure the reading against. We show the reading and the direction, and nothing more.
Water level now (5 October)
285 cm
⬇Falling — the river level fell 2 cm in the last three days.
Water levels are measured at the Maxau gauge – German federal waterways gauge service (PEGELONLINE). No official data — the reading is official; there is simply nothing published to compare it against.
We do not draw a measured history graph for this gauge. The reading above is current and official; the archive the graph would be drawn from is not ours to republish.
The official forecast for this gauge
BfG publishes no 14-day forecast for this gauge.
📊BfG's 6-week outlook for Maxau BfG issued this forecast: 2026-10-01
BfG's 6-week outlook for Maxau
Published by Bundesanstalt für Gewässerkunde (BfG).
BfG issued this forecast: 2026-10-01.
Each line is one whole week, which is how BfG publishes this product. It gives no figure for any single day, and neither do we.
BfG's own weekly figures for Maxau, in cm at the gauge.
Week
Lower
Middle
Upper
1–7 October
281
294
308
8–14 October
295
339
387
15–21 October
278
338
408
22–28 October
279
358
461
29 Oct–4 Nov
280
369
494
5–11 November
278
374
513
The three columns are BfG's own 5th, 50th and 95th percentiles from their weather-driven runs, in centimetres at the gauge.
Forecast water levels are from BfG. Waterlogged only reports historical and current data.
Every figure above is a water level at the gauge, in centimetres. It is not
the depth of water under a ship and it is not a ship's draft.
Official forecast: BfG six-week outlook for Maxau — likely ranges for each week
Published by Bundesanstalt für Gewässerkunde (BfG).
Nothing published today can tell you the level on 27 November.Germany's federal hydrology institute. It publishes the official water-level forecasts and outlooks.'s daily forecast only reaches fourteen days ahead. Your call here is 53 days away. We have picked the product that does reach it, so you do not have to.
That product is BfG's six-week outlook. It is not a daily prediction. It shows likely ranges for each week. Each range is where that week's level is expected to fall, with the odds attached. The ranges come from many past-weather what-if runs, not from a single-line prediction.
The button below opens Maxau's own sheet directly. Find the week beginning 23 November.
From 13 November, this port will be fourteen days away. The daily forecast will then reach your date, and this block will switch itself over to it.
This is a real reading. There is nothing published to measure it against.
285 cm
Scale 0–400 cm
285 cm measured
Nobody publishes a target level for this stretch, so there is nothing to measure the reading against. We show the reading and the direction, and nothing more.
Water level now (5 October)
285 cm
⬇Falling — the river level fell 2 cm in the last three days.
Water levels are measured at the Maxau gauge – German federal waterways gauge service (PEGELONLINE). No official data — the reading is official; there is simply nothing published to compare it against.
We do not draw a measured history graph for this gauge. The reading above is current and official; the archive the graph would be drawn from is not ours to republish.
The official forecast for this gauge
BfG publishes no 14-day forecast for this gauge.
📊BfG's 6-week outlook for Maxau BfG issued this forecast: 2026-10-01
BfG's 6-week outlook for Maxau
Published by Bundesanstalt für Gewässerkunde (BfG).
BfG issued this forecast: 2026-10-01.
Each line is one whole week, which is how BfG publishes this product. It gives no figure for any single day, and neither do we.
BfG's own weekly figures for Maxau, in cm at the gauge.
Week
Lower
Middle
Upper
1–7 October
281
294
308
8–14 October
295
339
387
15–21 October
278
338
408
22–28 October
279
358
461
29 Oct–4 Nov
280
369
494
5–11 November
278
374
513
The three columns are BfG's own 5th, 50th and 95th percentiles from their weather-driven runs, in centimetres at the gauge.
Forecast water levels are from BfG. Waterlogged only reports historical and current data.
Every figure above is a water level at the gauge, in centimetres. It is not
the depth of water under a ship and it is not a ship's draft.
Official forecast: BfG six-week outlook for Maxau — likely ranges for each week
Published by Bundesanstalt für Gewässerkunde (BfG).
Nothing published today can tell you the level on 28 November.Germany's federal hydrology institute. It publishes the official water-level forecasts and outlooks.'s daily forecast only reaches fourteen days ahead. Your call here is 54 days away. We have picked the product that does reach it, so you do not have to.
That product is BfG's six-week outlook. It is not a daily prediction. It shows likely ranges for each week. Each range is where that week's level is expected to fall, with the odds attached. The ranges come from many past-weather what-if runs, not from a single-line prediction.
The button below opens Maxau's own sheet directly. Find the week beginning 23 November.
From 14 November, this port will be fourteen days away. The daily forecast will then reach your date, and this block will switch itself over to it.
The measured level is under half of Waterlogged's reference line for a ship of this class.
693163 cm
Scale 0–200 cm
87 cm below Waterlogged’s reference line
That is how far today's measured level sits below the line we estimate a ship of this class needs.
The level it is measured against is our own estimate, not a figure from the cruise line.
Water level now (5 October)
6 cm
How we calculate ship needWaterlogged estimates that a river needs to be 2.05m in depth to be navigable by river cruises. A river cruise ship has a draft of approximately 1.60m and we add an additional 0.45m above this. This number is not from official cruise line reports. Ships with smaller drafts or special permission may be able to sail in less water. The figure on the page beside this note is a gauge level, and a gauge level is the height of the water at one measuring station, read from that station's own zero. It is not the depth of the navigable channel, it is not the room left under a ship's keel, and it is not a ship's draft. Our line is a level we compare today's reading with. It is not a depth anybody has measured under your ship.
93 cm
Normal for 29 November (median for 2015–2026)
163 cm
⬆Rising — the river level rose 6 cm in the last three days.
On the record: For 2015–2025, we checked the eleven days around this date. Kaub’s lowest daily average was 28 cm, in 2018. Today’s reading is 6. That is below every one of the 121 readings in that window.
Water levels are measured at the Kaub gauge – German federal waterways gauge service (PEGELONLINE).
Current level
Past average for this date
WLSN — How we calculate ship needWaterlogged estimates that a river needs to be 2.05m in depth to be navigable by river cruises. A river cruise ship has a draft of approximately 1.60m and we add an additional 0.45m above this. This number is not from official cruise line reports. Ships with smaller drafts or special permission may be able to sail in less water. The figure on the page beside this note is a gauge level, and a gauge level is the height of the water at one measuring station, read from that station's own zero. It is not the depth of the navigable channel, it is not the room left under a ship's keel, and it is not a ship's draft. Our line is a level we compare today's reading with. It is not a depth anybody has measured under your ship. (93 cm)
Measured level below that line
BfG’s own 14-day forecast: their low-to-high range and middle line · on 1 day the bottom of the range falls below 0 cm, the foot of this frame · BfG issued this forecast: 2026-10-04 GMT+1 · Bundesanstalt für Gewässerkunde (BfG)
BfG’s own 6-week outlook: one block for each whole published week · the bottoms of 4 weeks' ranges fall below 0 cm, the foot of this frame · BfG issued this forecast: 2026-10-01 · Bundesanstalt für Gewässerkunde (BfG)
Current and normal water levels. The solid blue line shows the current measured water level. The dashed grey line is the historic average of the water level from August 27th until December 30th. The bold dashed line labelled WLSN is the water level a ship of this class needs — Waterlogged's reference line for a ship of this class: 93 cm. It is a gauge level, not a depth under the hull. Today's water sits 119 cm below the normal water level for this date. During your shaded cruise dates the normal water level is 155 cm on 25 November and 165 cm on 2 December. The water level at this location historically keeps rising over the next three months.
The official forecast for this gauge
📊BfG's 14-day water-level forecast for Kaub BfG issued this forecast: 2026-10-04 GMT+1
BfG's 14-day water-level forecast for Kaub
Published by Bundesanstalt für Gewässerkunde (BfG).
BfG issued this forecast: 2026-10-04 GMT+1.
BfG's own daily figures for Kaub, in cm at the gauge.
Day
Lower
Middle
Upper
Mon 5 Oct
9
11
13
Tue 6 Oct
3
6
9
Wed 7 Oct
0
5
10
Thu 8 Oct
-2
4
11
Fri 9 Oct
1
11
24
Sat 10 Oct
7
23
43
Sun 11 Oct
19
45
78
Mon 12 Oct
24
58
104
Tue 13 Oct
23
60
112
Wed 14 Oct
26
64
117
Thu 15 Oct
26
64
116
Fri 16 Oct
25
63
117
Sat 17 Oct
21
62
125
BfG publishes a low and a high figure for every day, not one certain number. Read the whole range.
The three columns are BfG's own 10th, 50th and 90th percentiles, in centimetres at the gauge. Nothing between them is filled in by us.
BfG does not publish values above 640 centimetres. Where a figure would be higher, their file says so and this table reads "above 640".
Forecast water levels are from BfG. Waterlogged only reports historical and current data.
Every figure above is a water level at the gauge, in centimetres. It is not
the depth of water under a ship and it is not a ship's draft.
Official forecast: BfG six-week outlook for Kaub — likely ranges for each week
Published by Bundesanstalt für Gewässerkunde (BfG).
Nothing published today can tell you the level on 29 November.Germany's federal hydrology institute. It publishes the official water-level forecasts and outlooks.'s daily forecast only reaches fourteen days ahead. Your call here is 55 days away. We have picked the product that does reach it, so you do not have to.
That product is BfG's six-week outlook. It is not a daily prediction. It shows likely ranges for each week. Each range is where that week's level is expected to fall, with the odds attached. The ranges come from many past-weather what-if runs, not from a single-line prediction.
The button below opens Kaub's own sheet directly. Find the week beginning 23 November. Then read which band it sits in against the How we calculate ship needWaterlogged estimates that a river needs to be 2.05m in depth to be navigable by river cruises. A river cruise ship has a draft of approximately 1.60m and we add an additional 0.45m above this. This number is not from official cruise line reports. Ships with smaller drafts or special permission may be able to sail in less water. The figure on the page beside this note is a gauge level, and a gauge level is the height of the water at one measuring station, read from that station's own zero. It is not the depth of the navigable channel, it is not the room left under a ship's keel, and it is not a ship's draft. Our line is a level we compare today's reading with. It is not a depth anybody has measured under your ship. line on this page.
From 15 November, this port will be fourteen days away. The daily forecast will then reach your date, and this block will switch itself over to it.
The measured level is under half of Waterlogged's reference line for a ship of this class.
50139260 cm
Scale 0–300 cm
89 cm below Waterlogged’s reference line
That is how far today's measured level sits below the line we estimate a ship of this class needs.
The level it is measured against is our own estimate, not a figure from the cruise line.
Water level now (5 October)
50 cm
Published An authority's published low-level mark for a stretch. It is not a requirement for your ship. for this stretch
139 cm
Normal for 30 November (median for 2015–2026)
260 cm
⬆Rising — the river level rose 4 cm in the last three days.
On the record: For 2015–2025, we checked the eleven days around this date. Koeln’s lowest daily average was 77 cm, in 2018. Today’s reading is 50. That is below every one of the 121 readings in that window.
Water levels are measured at the Köln gauge – German federal waterways gauge service (PEGELONLINE). Published low-water reference — the waterway authority's own figure for this stretch, not a requirement set by your cruise line.
Current level
Past average for this date
WLSN — Published An authority's published low-level mark for a stretch. It is not a requirement for your ship. for this stretch (139 cm)
Measured level below that line
BfG’s own 14-day forecast: their low-to-high range and middle line · BfG issued this forecast: 2026-10-04 GMT+1 · Bundesanstalt für Gewässerkunde (BfG)
BfG’s own 6-week outlook: one block for each whole published week · the bottoms of 3 weeks' ranges fall below 0 cm, the foot of this frame · BfG issued this forecast: 2026-10-01 · Bundesanstalt für Gewässerkunde (BfG)
Current and normal water levels. The solid blue line shows the current measured water level. The dashed grey line is the historic average of the water level from August 27th until December 30th. The bold dashed line labelled WLSN is the water level a ship of this class needs — Waterlogged's reference line for a ship of this class: 139 cm. It is a gauge level, not a depth under the hull. Today's water sits 136 cm below the normal water level for this date. During your shaded cruise dates the normal water level is 245 cm on 25 November and 264 cm on 2 December. The water level at this location historically keeps rising over the next three months.
The official forecast for this gauge
📊BfG's 14-day water-level forecast for Köln BfG issued this forecast: 2026-10-04 GMT+1
BfG's 14-day water-level forecast for Köln
Published by Bundesanstalt für Gewässerkunde (BfG).
BfG issued this forecast: 2026-10-04 GMT+1.
BfG's own daily figures for Köln, in cm at the gauge.
Day
Lower
Middle
Upper
Mon 5 Oct
50
51
53
Tue 6 Oct
49
52
54
Wed 7 Oct
45
48
51
Thu 8 Oct
44
49
55
Fri 9 Oct
51
65
81
Sat 10 Oct
57
75
98
Sun 11 Oct
61
86
117
Mon 12 Oct
69
105
153
Tue 13 Oct
74
115
174
Wed 14 Oct
76
118
177
Thu 15 Oct
77
120
181
Fri 16 Oct
77
119
179
Sat 17 Oct
73
117
182
BfG publishes a low and a high figure for every day, not one certain number. Read the whole range.
The three columns are BfG's own 10th, 50th and 90th percentiles, in centimetres at the gauge. Nothing between them is filled in by us.
BfG does not publish values above 830 centimetres. Where a figure would be higher, their file says so and this table reads "above 830".
Forecast water levels are from BfG. Waterlogged only reports historical and current data.
Every figure above is a water level at the gauge, in centimetres. It is not
the depth of water under a ship and it is not a ship's draft.
Official forecast: BfG six-week outlook for Köln — likely ranges for each week
Published by Bundesanstalt für Gewässerkunde (BfG).
Nothing published today can tell you the level on 30 November.Germany's federal hydrology institute. It publishes the official water-level forecasts and outlooks.'s daily forecast only reaches fourteen days ahead. Your call here is 56 days away. We have picked the product that does reach it, so you do not have to.
That product is BfG's six-week outlook. It is not a daily prediction. It shows likely ranges for each week. Each range is where that week's level is expected to fall, with the odds attached. The ranges come from many past-weather what-if runs, not from a single-line prediction.
The button below opens Köln's own sheet directly. Find the week beginning 30 November. Then read which band it sits in against the 139 cm line on this page.
From 16 November, this port will be fourteen days away. The daily forecast will then reach your date, and this block will switch itself over to it.
The measured level is under half of Waterlogged's reference line for a ship of this class.
50139264 cm
Scale 0–350 cm
89 cm below Waterlogged’s reference line
That is how far today's measured level sits below the line we estimate a ship of this class needs.
The level it is measured against is our own estimate, not a figure from the cruise line.
Water level now (5 October)
50 cm
Published An authority's published low-level mark for a stretch. It is not a requirement for your ship. for this stretch
139 cm
Normal for 1 December (median for 2015–2026)
264 cm
⬆Rising — the river level rose 4 cm in the last three days.
On the record: For 2015–2025, we checked the eleven days around this date. Koeln’s lowest daily average was 77 cm, in 2018. Today’s reading is 50. That is below every one of the 121 readings in that window.
Water levels are measured at the Köln gauge – German federal waterways gauge service (PEGELONLINE). Published low-water reference — the waterway authority's own figure for this stretch, not a requirement set by your cruise line.
Current level
Past average for this date
WLSN — Published An authority's published low-level mark for a stretch. It is not a requirement for your ship. for this stretch (139 cm)
Measured level below that line
BfG’s own 14-day forecast: their low-to-high range and middle line · BfG issued this forecast: 2026-10-04 GMT+1 · Bundesanstalt für Gewässerkunde (BfG)
BfG’s own 6-week outlook: one block for each whole published week · the bottoms of 3 weeks' ranges fall below 0 cm, the foot of this frame · BfG issued this forecast: 2026-10-01 · Bundesanstalt für Gewässerkunde (BfG)
Current and normal water levels. The solid blue line shows the current measured water level. The dashed grey line is the historic average of the water level from August 27th until December 30th. The bold dashed line labelled WLSN is the water level a ship of this class needs — Waterlogged's reference line for a ship of this class: 139 cm. It is a gauge level, not a depth under the hull. Today's water sits 136 cm below the normal water level for this date. During your shaded cruise dates the normal water level is 245 cm on 25 November and 264 cm on 2 December. The water level at this location historically keeps rising over the next three months.
The official forecast for this gauge
📊BfG's 14-day water-level forecast for Köln BfG issued this forecast: 2026-10-04 GMT+1
BfG's 14-day water-level forecast for Köln
Published by Bundesanstalt für Gewässerkunde (BfG).
BfG issued this forecast: 2026-10-04 GMT+1.
BfG's own daily figures for Köln, in cm at the gauge.
Day
Lower
Middle
Upper
Mon 5 Oct
50
51
53
Tue 6 Oct
49
52
54
Wed 7 Oct
45
48
51
Thu 8 Oct
44
49
55
Fri 9 Oct
51
65
81
Sat 10 Oct
57
75
98
Sun 11 Oct
61
86
117
Mon 12 Oct
69
105
153
Tue 13 Oct
74
115
174
Wed 14 Oct
76
118
177
Thu 15 Oct
77
120
181
Fri 16 Oct
77
119
179
Sat 17 Oct
73
117
182
BfG publishes a low and a high figure for every day, not one certain number. Read the whole range.
The three columns are BfG's own 10th, 50th and 90th percentiles, in centimetres at the gauge. Nothing between them is filled in by us.
BfG does not publish values above 830 centimetres. Where a figure would be higher, their file says so and this table reads "above 830".
Forecast water levels are from BfG. Waterlogged only reports historical and current data.
Every figure above is a water level at the gauge, in centimetres. It is not
the depth of water under a ship and it is not a ship's draft.
Official forecast: BfG six-week outlook for Köln — likely ranges for each week
Published by Bundesanstalt für Gewässerkunde (BfG).
Nothing published today can tell you the level on 1 December.Germany's federal hydrology institute. It publishes the official water-level forecasts and outlooks.'s daily forecast only reaches fourteen days ahead. Your call here is 57 days away. We have picked the product that does reach it, so you do not have to.
That product is BfG's six-week outlook. It is not a daily prediction. It shows likely ranges for each week. Each range is where that week's level is expected to fall, with the odds attached. The ranges come from many past-weather what-if runs, not from a single-line prediction.
The button below opens Köln's own sheet directly. Find the week beginning 30 November. Then read which band it sits in against the 139 cm line on this page.
From 17 November, this port will be fourteen days away. The daily forecast will then reach your date, and this block will switch itself over to it.
Rain forecast by Open-Meteo (commercial licence) · fetched 5 October 2026 at 05:16 UTC · covering 14 days, 5 October to 18 October.
Rain can raise the water level of a river but there is no fixed rule on how much it does.
We only report how much the quantity of rainfall has changed the water level before under
similar conditions. It is context, not a prediction of a river level.
●Licensed rain forecast + what the water level has actually done before
The detailed weather forecast for your route
All rain forecasts use the same scale, 0–12 mm of rain a day, so you
can compare them directly. Each column is one day, with its date at the top, then the sky for
that day and the daily high in °C.
Rain forecast by Open-Meteo (commercial licence) · fetched 5 October 2026 at 05:16 UTC · covering 14 days, 5 October to 18 October.
the same days · 5 October to 18 October · daily highs in °C
Rain forecast by Open-Meteo (commercial licence) · fetched 5 October 2026 at 05:16 UTC · covering 14 days, 5 October to 18 October.
How rain reaches the river — the rules we use
the stages, the half-lives and the 2003 warning behind every line above
How rain becomes a water level
A river responds to rain in stages. A nearby shower may matter less than rain far upstream.
Rain fallsWhere the rain lands matters as much as the total.
Ground takes a shareDry ground can hold most of the first rain.
Tributaries bring it downWater arrives from different Side rivers and streams that feed the main river at different times. at different times.
The gauge gets a pulseA A short rise that has travelled downstream after rain further up the river. can briefly raise the level at the gauge.
Baseflow settles itThe slow supply of stored water that keeps a river running between periods of rain. is the slower supply of stored water. It decides where the level settles.
Why winter rain often does more
Winter ground is usually wetter and cooler. Plants use less water then. Less water also
evaporates. More of the same rain can reach the river. In high summer, dry soil and growing
plants take more water first. Less water then flows over the land into the river.
What "half-life" means here
The How long half of an unusual water-level difference has historically taken to fade. is based on past records. It is the time for half the extra
height above the usual seasonal level to fade. It describes persistence, not how many
centimetres a storm will add.
Estimated half-life of unusual levels at eligible route gauges
Read the difference carefully. A longer summer value at the
Rhine gauges does not mean summer rain adds more water. It means an unusual measured level faded more
slowly in that set of calendar dates. The block names come from the parameter file; they are not
weather seasons or a rain-to-level formula.
Rules of thumb
Use these to read a wet outlook — not to predict a sailing-day level.
After a long dry period, the first roughly 10 mm may mainly soak the
soil. Do not expect much change at the gauge before that.
Source: waterlogged/rain_explainer.py → transfer_function.soil_absorption_first_mm.value_mm = 10; explicitly qualitative, not a fitted gauge coefficient.
Look downstream after about 1 day Basel–Maxau, 1–1½ days
Maxau–Kaub and ½–1 day Kaub–Cologne; Austrian Danube events spanned
60–118 hours, so there is no honest fixed Danube clock.
Sources: docs/council_alignment/lens_hydrology.md gives Rhine flood-wave and falling-water travel times. docs/climate_evidence_wide_signals.md gives the "Travel time & Alpine share" event range and the no-fixed-lag rule.
A routed rain pulse can briefly raise a gauge. Baseflow is the slower supply
of stored water. It decides where the level settles.
Source: waterlogged/rain_explainer.py gives the wording about a rain pulse in each season. The figures in the table above are the fitted half_life_days from drift_params.json.
That is the calculation you have just read. The licence turns this panel from
a list of links into a daily reading. It still stops where the evidence stops.
How to read every number on this page
"Water level now" is the authority's measured reading at the gauge named on this page. It uses centimetres from that The fixed zero point for a gauge's centimetre scale. It can sit above the riverbed.. It is a level, not a depth of water under your ship. It is not the depth of the The navigable channel where ships are meant to pass. either, and it is not your ship's How deep a ship sits in the water. That depth sets how much water it needs underneath..
"Water level a ship of this class needs" — written WLSN at each end of its bold dashed line on the graphs — is Waterlogged's own arithmetic on published reference figures for that stretch and the draft we assume for that class. It is our line, plainly labelled, and it is not the operator's decision to sail.
The seasonal graph shows two different things. Left of the today line, solid blue shows the levels that were measured. Right of it, the dashed line shows the historical average for each date. It comes from what these gauges recorded on that date in past years. It is not a forecast of this autumn, and we do not draw one. We show it because that average keeps falling through October. That is useful to know before you sail.
Where a line comes from the record — Budapest — the page says so. There is still no maintained-depth model published for the Hungarian Danube, so instead of guessing at one we set our level from what actually happened: in 35 years of readings, every cruise-season day below it fell within a disruption somebody documented at the time.
Where no mark exists — Kienstock — we show the reading and the official marks and stop there.
Where the numbers come from. Measured levels for Kaub, Cologne, Pfelling and
Hofkirchen are verified daily averages from Germany's official service for live and archived federal waterway gauge readings.. They cover 2015–2026 and
are topped up from the live archive. Budapest and Kienstock readings come through The European River Information Services portal. It republishes official river data from member countries.
and Austria's Danube River Information Services site for water levels and navigation notices.. For those two the solid line on the graph is drawn from our own recording of
that live feed, which began in July 2026, so it is short and grows by a day each day; the graph says where it starts.
The longer measured archive behind Kienstock is not ours to republish, so we do not draw it and we print no
record sentence for it. For Budapest that changed on 17 August 2026: the General Directorate of Water Management
gave us written permission to publish its own archive, and the average for each date now stands on
35 years of it. Each "normal for this date"
uses a 31-day circular The middle past value for that date. Half of past years were higher and half were lower. — the middle value, so half of past years were
higher and half lower. The averages use 12 years of records on the German gauges,
35 years on Budapest and 25 years on Kienstock, from the projection engine's own
doy_median_cm arrays. Record lines use an eleven-day window centred on the port's own date, across each
gauge's whole archive. Budapest's levels come from Országos Vízügyi Főigazgatóság (OVF) / General Directorate of
Water Management; where we work them into an average, those input data originate from the General Directorate of
Water Management.
Nothing here is a forecast. The trend and the graph describe measured moves that have already happened. We do not model your cruise and we do not give you a percentage chance of anything.
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