About this river
Walnut Creek is a 6.0 mile stream near Saylorville Lake Marina in Iowa. Streamflow is measured at the USGS gauge Walnut Creek at Des Moines, IA (site 05484800). The National Hydrography Dataset places it at stream order 4. Reach geometry comes from the USGS National Hydrography Dataset.
Typical flow by month
1972 to 2026
Walnut Creek typically runs highest in May, at a median 85 cfs, and lowest in September, at 10 cfs. The highest flow on record for any single day is 5,100 cfs, in 2010.
| Month | Typical (cfs) | Usual range (cfs) | Relative level |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 13 | 5.1 to 30 | |
| February | 18 | 8.0 to 45 | |
| March | 45 | 19 to 91 | |
| April | 61 | 26 to 116 | |
| May | 85 | 38 to 146 | |
| June | 71 | 35 to 138 | |
| July | 29 | 16 to 72 | |
| August | 14 | 5.1 to 47 | |
| September | 10 | 3.7 to 36 | |
| October | 12 | 3.7 to 42 | |
| November | 20 | 6.5 to 44 | |
| December | 16 | 5.7 to 38 |
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 55 years of record. Statistics published by the US Geological Survey for Walnut Creek at Des Moines, IA (site 05484800). Conditions on any given day can fall well outside the usual range. Check the current reading before you go.
Embed this gauge on your site
Paste this snippet anywhere, an outfitter page, a club site, a trip report, to show Walnut Creek'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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