Ichetucknee River level at Fort White
Florida · Tubing & floating
Measured at USGS 02322700 — ICHETUCKNEE R @ HWY27 NR HILDRETH, FL · NWS forecast point ICSF1
Reading taken · as of 43 min ago
Low and slow — expect to drag in the shallows
At 215 CFS, this gauge is in the lowest 10% of the 24 years USGS has recorded for this date (2002–2026), at 66% of the 328 CFS median. The stage is 1.2 ft below the NWS action stage of 16.0 ft.
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Flood stages at Fort White
National Weather Service categories for gauge ICSF1, WFO JAX. Impact wording is the NWS's own, verbatim.
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Major flood 24.0 ft
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Moderate flood 21.0 ft
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Minor flood 19.0 ft
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Action 16.0 ft
- Right now 14.83 ft
Flow history at Fort White
Daily values from USGS 02322700, updated every 15 to 60 minutes; NWS forecast for ICSF1 reissued through the day. Provisional.
Highest crests on record at Fort White
12 on record
| Stage | Flow | Date |
|---|---|---|
| 33.29 ft | — | Apr 12, 1948 |
| 28.10 ft | 431 CFS | Apr 27, 1973 |
| 26.02 ft | 145 CFS | Apr 17, 2009 |
| 25.82 ft | 229 CFS | Apr 17, 2005 |
| 25.67 ft | 177 CFS | Oct 12, 2004 |
| 24.88 ft | 441 CFS | Mar 18, 1966 |
| 24.69 ft | 187 CFS | May 3, 2014 |
| 24.62 ft | 338 CFS | Nov 11, 1947 |
| 24.54 ft | 234 CFS | Sep 16, 2017 |
| 24.53 ft | 425 CFS | Mar 11, 1965 |
Crests published by the National Weather Service.
About Ichetucknee River at Fort White
USGS publishes this as Ichetucknee River at Highway 27 near Hildreth, not at Fort White, and the distinction is worth knowing if you are matching this reading to a map.
What sets this gauge apart is how little it moves. The published monthly medians run from 301 CFS in December to 325 in September. That is an eight percent spread across an entire year, on a river that USGS credits with a 213 square mile drainage. Spring discharge does that; surface runoff does not. The statistics behind it cover 2002 to 2026, and within that window the extremes are 87.8 CFS on 15 September 2017 and 703 CFS on 30 June 2012.
Ichetucknee River at Fort White — common questions
6 questions
Does this river have a season?
Barely. Across the published statistics the monthly medians range from 301 CFS to 325 CFS, which is an eight percent spread from the lowest month to the highest. Compare that with the rain fed rivers on this site, where a four to one or ten to one seasonal swing is ordinary. If this gauge is meaningfully off its normal, something unusual is happening rather than the calendar turning.
Why is there a flood ladder on such a steady river?
Because the NWS maintains a forecast point here, with action stage at 16 feet, minor flood at 19, moderate at 21 and major at 24, quoted in NAVD88. The historical crest list reaches much higher than the modern record: the top crest is 33.29 feet from April 1948, well above anything in the 2002 onward daily series.
Does the Santa Fe gauge tell me anything about this one?
A fair amount. Over 2,607 days of overlapping record since 2002 the two track each other at a correlation of 0.85, and this gauge has run at a median of about 0.82 times the Santa Fe reading at High Springs, 12.7 miles away. They share a spring system and a rainfall pattern, so when one is well off normal the other usually is too.
Does rain upstream change Ichetucknee River at Fort White quickly?
Yes. It is free-flowing, so rain upstream moves it directly. Several feet in a few hours is normal after a heavy storm.
Is Ichetucknee River at Fort White high or low for this time of year?
The USGS median flow for late September here is 328 CFS, from 24 years of record (2002–2026). Today sits in the lowest 10% of those years, at 66% of the median. The comparison is what makes the raw number mean anything: the same reading is a drought on one river and a flood on another.
How often does this reading update?
USGS transmits from gauge 02322700 every 15 to 60 minutes, and the National Weather Service reissues the flood forecast for ICSF1 a few times a day — more often when the river is rising. This page refreshes from both when you open it. The timestamp is in the gauge's local time.