Morning readings · Sunday, September 27, 2026
The water report for your river cruise.
River Water Watch predicts water levels on Europe's main cruise rivers, the Rhine, Danube, Elbe, and Seine. We combine official gauge readings, thirty years of records, and a daily forecast into one simple verdict: how likely each month is to sail exactly as planned. Most months, on most rivers, the answer is very. Use it to book the good water with confidence, or to keep a friendly eye on a sailing you already have.
How does your sailing look?
Pick your river and your departure date. We'll check every day of your cruise and tell you, in plain words, what to expect.
Choose your departure date. We'll check every day of your trip against the shallowest stretch it sails, using the live forecast and thirty years of records.
The morning briefing
Sunday, September 27, 2026 · All notes
Rhine holds at minus 2 centimeters at Kaub
The Rhine gauge at Kaub read minus 2 centimeters this morning, the same as yesterday, so the slide of recent weeks paused overnight. It is still low water on the Rhine, and the chance of a sailing day going as planned this week is 1 percent, which in practice tends to mean a lighter ship or a swap to a sister vessel past the shallow stretch with a coach in between. The Danube at Pfelling eased one centimeter to 206. Further out, December on the Rhine reads 63 percent as planned.
Gauges below their mark
6 of 7
low-water rivers
Kaub, the Rhine gorge
-2 cm
p0.5 of 30 years
Danube catchment rain
-27%
vs normal, 45 days
Today at the gauges
| Gauge | River | Reading | Since yesterday | Past week | vs 30 years | State |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| KAUB | Rhine | -2 cm | level | p0.5 | low | |
| MAXAU | Rhine | 287 cm | ▼ 6 cm | p0.6 | low | |
| PFELLING | Danube | 206 cm | ▼ 1 cm | p1.2 | low | |
| KIENSTOCK | Danube | 121 cm | ▲ 1 cm | p10.4 | low | |
| DRESDEN | Elbe | 63 cm | level | p18.6 | low | |
| Paris-Austerlitz | Seine | 96 cm | ▼ 5 cm | p0.8 | normal |
Official readings from PEGELONLINE (WSV) and Vigicrues. Change is measured against yesterday's last reading; the small line is the past week. Percentiles compare today with thirty years of records: p10 means lower than 90 of every 100 recorded days.
Email alerts
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Rhine
KAUB -2 cm · low
Middle Rhine at Kaub is running unusually low today — lower than most days in 30 years of records — and itineraries on this stretch are flexing. Rain over the Alpine headwaters (Chur, Basel) is 23% below normal for the past 45 days; the 16-day forecast runs 46% below.
Sep*
Oct*
Nov*
Dec*
Jan*
Feb*
Mar*
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Last five years, month by month
The five years before each month, most recent on top · marks are months that hit low water · solid = a week or more
Danube
PFELLING 206 cm · low
Danube, Straubing to Vilshofen is running unusually low today — lower than most days in 30 years of records — and itineraries on this stretch are flexing. Rain over the Inn valley + Bavarian Danube is 27% below normal for the past 45 days; the 16-day forecast runs 38% below.
Sep*
Oct*
Nov*
Dec*
Jan*
Feb*
Mar*
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Last five years, month by month
The five years before each month, most recent on top · marks are months that hit low water · solid = a week or more
Elbe
DRESDEN 63 cm · low
Elbe at Dresden is within its normal range today. Rain over the Bohemian basin + Giant Mountains is 50% above normal for the past 45 days; the 16-day forecast runs 53% below.
Sep*
Oct*
Nov*
Dec*
Jan*
Feb*
Mar*
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Last five years, month by month
The five years before each month, most recent on top · marks are months that hit low water · solid = a week or more
Seine
Seine at Vernon p1 · normal
Locked and rain-fed: the Seine's risk is high water under the bridges, not a dry riverbed. Rain over the upper Seine basin (Troyes, Châtillonnais) is 44% below normal for the past 45 days; the 16-day forecast runs 29% above.
Sep*
Oct*
Nov*
Dec*
Jan*
Feb*
Mar*
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Last five years, month by month
The five years before each month, most recent on top · marks are months that hit high water · solid = a week or more
How to read the figures
Most river cruises, most of the year, run exactly as planned. Each column is a month, and the blue is the chance that month goes as planned, so a full column is a comfortable booking. Water under the dashed line means the itinerary may flex; the hatching shows by how much.
Months marked * use the live forecast, which runs about seven months out. Beyond that, the level is the thirty-year record for that month. Every figure is updated each morning.
We watch the exact stretches where cruises fail: the Rhine gorge at Kaub, the free-flowing Danube reaches, the Elbe at Dresden. Not city averages. How it works.