A low-water river
The Danube
Next 12 months
water = chance the month goes as planned · dot = live forecast
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
RAIN · Inn valley + Bavarian Danube: last 45 days 272 mm vs 375 mm normal (-27%) · next 16 days 66 mm vs 106 mm (-38%)
Danube, Straubing to Vilshofen
the notoriously shallow free-flowing German reach
PFELLING 206 cm · low
- Today vs 30 years
- p1.2
- Status now
- low water now
- The trouble line
- 211 m³/s
- This week
- 1% as planned
Weekly outlook · 30 weeks
2026-09-272027-04-04
Danube, Wachau (Kienstock)
free-flowing heritage valley between Melk and Krems
KIENSTOCK 121 cm · low
- Today vs 30 years
- p10.4
- Status now
- low water now
- The trouble line
- 1011 m³/s
- This week
- 15% as planned
Weekly outlook · 30 weeks
2026-09-272027-04-04
Danube at Budapest
the Hungarian reach, the turnaround port for most 7-night Danube cruises
MODEL 1376 m³/s · low
- Today vs 30 years
- p8.4
- Status now
- low water now
- The trouble line
- 1468 m³/s
- This week
- 1% as planned
Weekly outlook · 30 weeks
2026-09-272027-04-04
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 | October 16 | 140 m³/s | +0.5% | after 12 days | 36 |
| 1997 | September 30 | 147 m³/s | +5.7% | after 11 days | 30 |
| 2023 | October 14 | 157 m³/s | +13.1% | after 9 days | 8 |
| 2015 | October 3 | 168 m³/s | +20.6% | after 4 days | 28 |
| 2003 | September 23 | 170 m³/s | +22.1% | after 11 days | 18 |
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 12 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 September 26 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.