Smith River level at Bassett
Virginia · Fishing & wading
Measured at USGS 02072500 — SMITH RIVER AT BASSETT, VA · NWS forecast point BASV2
Reading taken · as of 18 min ago
About normal for the date
At 143 CFS, this gauge is inside the middle half of the 75 years USGS has recorded for this date (1951–2026), at 52% of the 277 CFS median.
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Flood stages at Bassett
National Weather Service categories for gauge BASV2, WFO RNK. Impact wording is the NWS's own, verbatim.
-
Action 8.0 ft · 4,852 CFS
- Right now 1.75 ft
Flow history at Bassett
Daily values from USGS 02072500, updated every 15 to 60 minutes; NWS forecast for BASV2 reissued through the day. Provisional.
Highest crests on record at Bassett
12 on record
| Stage | Flow | Date |
|---|---|---|
| 15.20 ft | 17,700 CFS | Sep 7, 1987 |
| 13.35 ft | 14,400 CFS | May 25, 2020 |
| 13.04 ft | 16,000 CFS | Sep 10, 1950 |
| 11.87 ft | 11,200 CFS | May 28, 1982 |
| 11.64 ft | 10,800 CFS | Sep 22, 1979 |
| 11.20 ft | 12,800 CFS | Dec 7, 1950 |
| 10.50 ft | 8,680 CFS | Sep 6, 1996 |
| 10.07 ft | 7,686 CFS | Oct 1, 2015 |
| 9.60 ft | 7,940 CFS | Jul 26, 1974 |
| 9.17 ft | 6,400 CFS | Apr 9, 1983 |
Crests published by the National Weather Service.
About Smith River at Bassett
The two largest floods in this station's history both predate the window the seasonal comparison uses. The peak record shows 38,200 CFS at 22.9 feet on 19 October 1937 and 26,600 CFS at 18.28 feet on 14 August 1940, while the USGS daily statistics behind the percent of normal figure begin in 1951.
What the post 1951 record shows instead is regulation. The published monthly medians on this 259 square mile drainage run from 199 CFS in November to 314 in May, a band of barely more than one and a half to one across the year. The nearest gauge on this site, Smith River at Philpott, is 1.5 miles away, the closest pair anywhere in the dataset.
Smith River at Bassett — common questions
6 questions
Why do the record flood figures not appear in the seasonal statistics?
Because they come from different sources covering different periods. The peak flow record starts in 1937 and holds the 38,200 CFS October 1937 crest of 22.9 feet. The daily statistics that produce the median on this page cover 1951 to 2026. Both are on this page; they simply describe the river before and after the change in how it is managed.
How much does this gauge move through the year?
Much less than an unregulated river of this size would. Across the published statistics the monthly medians stay between 199 and 314 CFS. What moves this gauge is generation at Philpott upstream, which can change the reading quickly and without a weather event behind it, so a check an hour old is not necessarily a current one.
How close is this to the Philpott gauge?
About as close as two gauges get. Smith River at Philpott is 1.5 miles away, the nearest pair anywhere in this dataset, and over 29,206 days of overlapping record since 1946 the two correlate at 0.957, with this gauge carrying a median of about 1.18 times the Philpott reading. If you want a second opinion on a number here, that is the one to check.
What makes the flow change on Smith River at Bassett?
Rain upstream, plus seasonal baseflow. The 12-month chart shows how it behaves through the year.
Is Smith River at Bassett high or low for this time of year?
The USGS median flow for late September here is 277 CFS, from 75 years of record (1951–2026). 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 02072500 every 15 to 60 minutes, and the National Weather Service reissues the flood forecast for BASV2 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.