Jackson River level at Covington
Virginia · Fishing & wading
Measured at USGS 02011800 — JACKSON RIVER BL GATHRIGHT DAM NR HOT SPGS, VA
Reading taken · as of 58 min ago
Below normal — good wading, low and clear
At 216 CFS, this gauge is in the lowest quarter of the 46 years USGS has recorded for this date (1980–2026), at 87% of the 248 CFS median.
Sponsor Jackson River
One exclusive sponsor per river, on every gauge page for it.
Cancel anytime · Questions?
Flow history at Covington
Daily values from USGS 02011800, updated every 15 to 60 minutes. Provisional.
About Jackson River at Covington
The station is published by USGS as Jackson River below Gathright Dam near Hot Springs, VA. Covington is downstream; the gauge is at the dam, and the number on this page is what Gathright is releasing.
The release schedule flattens the year. Across a 345 square mile drainage the published monthly medians move only from 161 CFS in November and December to 508 in March, a little over three to one, where a free-flowing basin this size in the Virginia mountains would swing much harder. The extremes that remain in the record come from either side of the dam's influence: 12,600 CFS on 5 April 1977, 47 CFS on 2 September 1981, and an annual peak of 29,000 CFS at 18.77 feet in December 1973, larger than anything in the five decades since.
Jackson River at Covington — common questions
6 questions
Is this reading a natural flow?
No. The station sits immediately below Gathright Dam, so what it measures is the discharge being released rather than runoff arriving. The practical consequence is that the percent of normal figure on this page compares today's release against past releases on the same calendar day, not today's weather against normal weather.
Why does the comparison with the Gauley stop in 2003?
Because the peer gauge's daily record does, not this one's. The nearest discharge-reporting gauge on this site is the Gauley at Summersville, 54.3 miles away, and USGS publishes daily statistics for that station only through 2003. The two overlap on 9,495 days between October 1973 and September 2003, correlating at 0.295 with this gauge running at a median of about a quarter of the Gauley's flow. That is a weak relationship measured over an old window, and it should be read as neither current nor strong.
Is there a flood forecast for this gauge?
Not at this location. There is no NWS forecast point on the station, so no flood categories, impact statements or crest list appear on this page. The USGS annual peak record covers 1973 to 2025 with fifty-two peaks, the largest being the 29,000 CFS event of 26 December 1973.
What makes the flow change on Jackson River at Covington?
Rain upstream, plus seasonal baseflow. The 12-month chart shows how it behaves through the year.
Is Jackson River at Covington high or low for this time of year?
The USGS median flow for late September here is 248 CFS, from 46 years of record (1980–2026). Today sits in the lowest quarter of those years, at 87% 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 02011800 every 15 to 60 minutes. This page refreshes from USGS when you open it, and the reading is provisional until USGS reviews it. The timestamp is in the gauge's local time.