About this river
Catawba River is a 7.4 mile river near Cornelius Pontoon Rentals in North Carolina. Streamflow is measured at the USGS gauge South Fork Catawba River at Lowell, NC (site 02145000). The National Hydrography Dataset places it at stream order 8. Reach geometry comes from the USGS National Hydrography Dataset.
Typical flow by month
1942 to 2026
Catawba River typically runs highest in March, at a median 853 cfs, and lowest in September, at 341 cfs. The highest flow on record for any single day is 21,700 cfs, in 1970.
| Month | Typical (cfs) | Usual range (cfs) | Relative level |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 693 | 507 to 1,040 | |
| February | 772 | 585 to 1,250 | |
| March | 853 | 638 to 1,210 | |
| April | 769 | 583 to 1,075 | |
| May | 605 | 468 to 834 | |
| June | 511 | 368 to 676 | |
| July | 403 | 290 to 582 | |
| August | 393 | 261 to 581 | |
| September | 341 | 245 to 474 | |
| October | 342 | 253 to 522 |
Typical is the median of each month’s daily median values, and the usual range runs from the median 25th to the median 75th percentile, across about 72 years of record. Statistics published by the US Geological Survey for South Fork Catawba River at Lowell, NC (site 02145000). Conditions on any given day can fall well outside the usual range. Check the current reading before you go.
Boat access nearby
6 mapped launches sit in the mapped area of Catawba River, all of them public access. Ramp data comes from the USGS national boat-ramp inventory.
Embed this gauge on your site
Paste this snippet anywhere, an outfitter page, a club site, a trip report, to show Catawba River's live streamflow, water level and 7-day trend. It reads the USGS gauge directly, updates itself, and links back here.
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