Saluda River level at Columbia
South Carolina · Paddling & whitewater
Measured at USGS 02168504 — SALUDA RIVER BELOW LK MURRAY DAM NR COLUMBIA, SC · NWS forecast point MURS1
Reading taken · as of 28 min ago
In its normal runnable range
At 983 CFS, this gauge is inside the middle half of the 37 years USGS has recorded for this date (1989–2026), at 97% of the 1,010 CFS median.
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Flow history at Columbia
Daily values from USGS 02168504, updated every 15 to 60 minutes; NWS forecast for MURS1 reissued through the day. Provisional.
Highest crests on record at Columbia
12 on record
| Stage | Flow | Date |
|---|---|---|
| 27.50 ft | — | Oct 4, 2015 |
| 20.39 ft | — | Dec 29, 1992 |
| 16.01 ft | — | Feb 21, 1990 |
| 15.88 ft | 20,000 CFS | Mar 21, 2003 |
| 15.88 ft | 22,100 CFS | Mar 9, 1996 |
| 15.85 ft | 22,000 CFS | Jan 16, 1995 |
| 15.70 ft | 21,600 CFS | Sep 21, 1989 |
| 15.69 ft | 17,857 CFS | Sep 29, 2024 |
| 15.34 ft | 18,900 CFS | Feb 4, 1998 |
| 15.29 ft | 20,600 CFS | Oct 12, 1990 |
Crests published by the National Weather Service.
About Saluda River at Columbia
The highest water this forecast point has ever recorded does not appear in the USGS peak flow record at all. The NWS crest list has 27.5 feet on 4 October 2015, more than seven feet above every other crest on file; the largest annual peak USGS holds is 22,400 CFS at 15.85 feet from January 1995. Two different records of the same river, and they do not agree about the biggest event.
Day to day the gauge is steadier than its 2,420 square mile basin suggests, because it sits below Lake Murray Dam. Published monthly medians run from 870 CFS in July to 1,860 in January, barely more than two to one. Daily statistics cover 1989 to 2026, and inside that window the series runs from 155 CFS on 24 September 1989 to 28,300 CFS on 2 January 2016.
Reservoir feeding this stretch
Flow here is set by releases from Lake Murray. A full pool usually means more water on its way down.
Saluda River at Columbia — common questions
5 questions
Why are no flood categories shown for this gauge?
The NWS maintains a forecast point here, named Saluda River below Lake Murray Dam, but publishes no action, minor, moderate or major flood stages for it. What it does publish is a crest list of twelve entries, topped by 27.5 feet in October 2015, 20.39 feet in December 1992 and 16.01 feet in February 1990. Without a category ladder there is no distance-from-flood figure on this page.
How current is the comparison with the Wateree?
Current, but short. The Wateree at Camden is 35.1 miles away and the two gauges have only 1,788 overlapping days, starting 30 October 2021, because that is when the peer's usable daily record begins. Across those days they correlate at 0.535 and this gauge runs at a median of about 0.4 times the Wateree's flow. Five years of overlap is thin, and a correlation drawn from it should be treated as provisional.
How fast can Saluda River at Columbia come up?
Fast. It is dam-controlled, below Lake Murray, so flow changes when the operator changes the release — often within minutes, often with no rain at all. The pool upstream is tracked on lakelvl.com.
Is Saluda River at Columbia high or low for this time of year?
The USGS median flow for late September here is 1,010 CFS, from 37 years of record (1989–2026). Today sits inside the middle half of those years, at 97% 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 02168504 every 15 to 60 minutes, and the National Weather Service reissues the flood forecast for MURS1 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.