Pigeon River level at Hartford
Tennessee · Paddling & whitewater
Measured at USGS 03460795 — PIGEON R BL POWER PLANT NR WATERVILLE, NC
Reading taken · as of 28 min ago
In its normal runnable range
At 236 CFS, this gauge is inside the middle half of the 29 years USGS has recorded for this date (1997–2026), at 52% of the 450 CFS median.
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Flow history at Hartford
Daily values from USGS 03460795, updated every 15 to 60 minutes. Provisional.
About Pigeon River at Hartford
The station is published by USGS as Pigeon River below power plant near Waterville, NC, so despite the slug it sits on the North Carolina side. Its record was rewritten on 27 September 2024, when the annual peak reached 67,900 CFS at a stage of 27.03 feet and the daily mean reached 42,700 CFS. The previous largest peak, from September 2004, was 39,000 CFS at 18.88 feet.
That event is 74 percent larger in flow than anything else in a record that opens on 1 February 1997. Twenty-nine annual peaks are on file, and the other four in the top five all sit between 26,000 and 39,000 CFS. Away from it the gauge is modest: published monthly medians from 381 CFS in September to 1,430 in March, on a 538 square mile drainage below Walters Dam, with a record low daily mean of 74 CFS from 19 November 2000.
Pigeon River at Hartford — common questions
6 questions
What happened here in September 2024?
The gauge recorded by far the largest event in its history. The peak reached 67,900 CFS and 27.03 feet on 27 September 2024, against a previous record of 39,000 CFS and 18.88 feet from September 2004. It matters when reading the record high on this page, because that figure describes a single recent event rather than a typical large flood on this river.
Is there flood stage information for this gauge?
No. There is no NWS forecast point at this station, so no flood categories, impact statements or crest list appear on this page. The annual peak record is the only large-event history available here, and it covers March 1997 to December 2024.
How does the Tuckasegee compare?
Closely, and at almost the same scale. The Tuckasegee at Dillsboro is 29.4 miles away, and over 8,114 shared days since July 2004 the two correlate at 0.847 in log flow with this gauge running at a median of about 1.22 times the Tuckasegee's discharge. Two southern Appalachian rivers of similar size in the same weather, both carrying dam releases.
How fast can Pigeon River at Hartford come up?
Fast. It is free-flowing, so rain upstream moves it directly. Several feet in a few hours is normal after a heavy storm.
Is Pigeon River at Hartford high or low for this time of year?
The USGS median flow for late September here is 450 CFS, from 29 years of record (1997–2026). Today sits inside the middle half of those years, at 52% 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 03460795 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.