A low-water river
The Rhine
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 · Alpine headwaters (Chur, Basel): last 45 days 266 mm vs 310 mm normal (-14%) · next 16 days 156 mm vs 108 mm (+44%)
Middle Rhine at Kaub
the Rhine gorge between Rüdesheim and Koblenz, the bottleneck for every Amsterdam to Basel itinerary
KAUB 17 cm · low
- Today vs 30 years
- p0.4
- Status now
- low water now
- The trouble line
- 909 m³/s
- This week
- 18% as planned
Weekly outlook · 30 weeks
2026-11-112027-06-02
Upper Rhine at Maxau
the upper Rhine at Karlsruhe, the approach to Strasbourg and Basel
MAXAU 366 cm · low
- Today vs 30 years
- p1.5
- Status now
- low water now
- The trouble line
- 688 m³/s
- This week
- 51% as planned
Weekly outlook · 30 weeks
2026-11-112027-06-02
Lower Rhine at Lobith
where the Rhine enters the Netherlands, feeding the Amsterdam approach
MODEL 634 m³/s · low
- Today vs 30 years
- p0.5
- Status now
- low water now
- The trouble line
- 1131 m³/s
- This week
- 1% as planned
Weekly outlook · 30 weeks
2026-11-112027-06-02
Has it been like this before?
Yes. The Lower Rhine at Lobith 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 24 | 631 m³/s | +0.5% | after 11 days | 12 |
| 2011 | November 22 | 637 m³/s | +0.5% | after 15 days | 14 |
| 2015 | November 14 | 712 m³/s | +12.2% | after 7 days | 6 |
| 2005 | December 1 | 754 m³/s | +18.9% | after 6 days | 12 |
| 1997 | November 6 | 765 m³/s | +20.5% | after 3 days | 19 |
The pattern is the useful part. In every one of those years the river climbed back over the line, and it took between 3 and 15 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 Lower Rhine at Lobith, 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.