A low-water river
The Danube
Next 12 months
water = chance the month goes as planned · dot = live forecast
Nov*
Dec*
Jan*
Feb*
Mar*
Apr*
May*
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
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
RAIN · Inn valley + Bavarian Danube: last 45 days 173 mm vs 270 mm normal (-36%) · next 16 days 73 mm vs 87 mm (-17%)
Danube, Straubing to Vilshofen
the notoriously shallow free-flowing German reach
PFELLING 260 cm · low
- Today vs 30 years
- p0
- Status now
- low water now
- The trouble line
- 209 m³/s
- This week
- 56% as planned
Weekly outlook · 30 weeks
2026-11-112027-06-02
Danube, Wachau (Kienstock)
free-flowing heritage valley between Melk and Krems
KIENSTOCK 143 cm · low
- Today vs 30 years
- p0.3
- Status now
- low water now
- The trouble line
- 1004 m³/s
- This week
- 37% as planned
Weekly outlook · 30 weeks
2026-11-112027-06-02
Danube at Budapest
the Hungarian reach, the turnaround port for most 7-night Danube cruises
MODEL 1063 m³/s · low
- Today vs 30 years
- p0.4
- Status now
- low water now
- The trouble line
- 1461 m³/s
- This week
- 8% as planned
Weekly outlook · 30 weeks
2026-11-112027-06-02
Has it been like this before?
Yes. The Danube, Straubing to Vilshofen sat at almost exactly today's flow in 2018, within 0.5% of where it is now.
Here is what the river did over the six weeks after each of the closest years. Nothing here is a forecast. It's the measured record.
| Year | Date | Flow | vs today | Back over the line | Days low of the next 42 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | November 22 | 114 m³/s | +0.5% | after 11 days | 14 |
| 1997 | November 28 | 129 m³/s | +14.1% | after 13 days | 12 |
| 2015 | November 14 | 134 m³/s | +17.9% | after 6 days | 15 |
| 2011 | December 1 | 136 m³/s | +20.1% | after 4 days | 3 |
| 2005 | December 1 | 143 m³/s | +26.1% | after 4 days | 16 |
The pattern is the useful part. In every one of those years the river climbed back over the line, and it took between 4 and 13 days to do it. What it didn't do was stay there: in the harder years it dropped back under repeatedly through the autumn. That is why a cruise in a low-water spell usually means a rerouted day or two rather than a lost holiday.
Flow figures are the European Union's GloFAS record for Danube, Straubing to Vilshofen, measured on November 10 and the same date in each earlier year. The line is the level below which this stretch has run only 12% of the time in thirty years.
Where these numbers come from: how it works. Still picking a date? Start with when to go.