Rainbow River level at Dunnellon
Florida · Tubing & floating
Measured at USGS 02313100 — RAINBOW RIVER AT DUNNELLON, FL · NWS forecast point RNBF1
Reading taken · as of 43 min ago
Low and slow — expect to drag in the shallows
At 503 CFS, this gauge is in the lowest 5% of the 61 years USGS has recorded for this date (1965–2026), at 71% of the 704 CFS median.
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Flood stages at Dunnellon
National Weather Service categories for gauge RNBF1, WFO JAX. Impact wording is the NWS's own, verbatim.
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Major flood 31.0 ft
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Moderate flood 30.0 ft
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Minor flood 29.0 ft
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Action 28.0 ft
- Right now 4.80 ft
Flow history at Dunnellon
Daily values from USGS 02313100, updated every 15 to 60 minutes; NWS forecast for RNBF1 reissued through the day. Provisional.
Highest crests on record at Dunnellon
3 on record
| Stage | Flow | Date |
|---|---|---|
| 29.57 ft | 747 CFS | Nov 2, 2024 |
| 29.00 ft | — | Oct 8, 2017 |
| 28.45 ft | — | Sep 20, 2015 |
Crests published by the National Weather Service.
About Rainbow River at Dunnellon
USGS lists the drainage area for this station as zero. That is not a gap in the record. There is no meaningful surface basin feeding this river; what the gauge measures is spring discharge arriving from underground, which is why the number behaves the way it does.
Across 1965 to 2026, about 61 years of published statistics, the monthly medians run from 625 CFS in May to 712 in October, a spread of roughly 14 percent. The whole daily record fits between 391 CFS on 27 May 2012 and 1,060 CFS on 19 September 1988. The NWS flood ladder here spans three feet in total, from action stage at 28 to major at 31, and only three crests have ever been recorded on it.
Rainbow River at Dunnellon — common questions
6 questions
Why does USGS show no drainage area for this gauge?
Because the river is spring fed and there is no delineated surface catchment to report. The published drainage area is zero. Practically, it means rainfall upstream is not what drives this reading, and a dry month in the region will not move this gauge the way it moves a runoff river.
How often does this river actually flood?
Rarely, on the record the NWS holds. Only three crests appear in the historical list: 29.57 feet in November 2024, 29.0 feet in October 2017 and 28.45 feet in September 2015. Action stage is 28 feet and major flood is 31, so the entire ladder covers three feet and the highest crest ever recorded sits below the moderate rung.
Do the other Florida spring rivers move with this one?
The Silver at Ocala does, closely. Over 22,533 days of shared record going back to 1965 the two correlate at 0.882, and this gauge runs at a median of about 0.96 times the Silver's discharge. Both are fed from the same aquifer, so what moves them is regional groundwater over months rather than rainfall over days.
Does rain upstream change Rainbow River at Dunnellon 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 Rainbow River at Dunnellon high or low for this time of year?
The USGS median flow for late September here is 704 CFS, from 61 years of record (1965–2026). Today sits in the lowest 5% of those years, at 71% 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 02313100 every 15 to 60 minutes, and the National Weather Service reissues the flood forecast for RNBF1 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.