Stanislaus River level at Ripon
California · Fishing & wading
Measured at USGS 11303000 — STANISLAUS R A RIPON CA · NWS forecast point RIPC1
Reading taken · as of 43 min ago
Below normal — good wading, low and clear
At 169 CFS, this gauge is in the lowest quarter of the 85 years USGS has recorded for this date (1941–2026), at 67% of the 252 CFS median.
Sponsor Stanislaus River
One exclusive sponsor per river, on every gauge page for it.
Cancel anytime · Questions?
Flood stages at Ripon
National Weather Service categories for gauge RIPC1, WFO STO. Impact wording is the NWS's own, verbatim.
-
Minor flood 60.0 ft
-
Action 55.0 ft
- Right now 37.88 ft
NWS forecast: 37.97 ft by .
Flow history at Ripon
Daily values from USGS 11303000, updated every 15 to 60 minutes; NWS forecast for RIPC1 reissued through the day. Provisional.
About Stanislaus River at Ripon
Three feet of stage covers a threefold range of flow at this gauge. The top five annual peaks on record are 62,500 CFS at 63.25 feet, 48,500 at 62.78, 32,800 at 62.26, 26,800 at 60.43 and 19,700 at 59.83. The largest is more than three times the fifth largest, and the whole set fits inside 3.4 feet. The stage datum here is local rather than an elevation, which is worth knowing given USGS lists the station altitude as 2.83 feet.
The NWS places action stage at 55 feet and minor flood at 60, with no moderate or major published, and holds no historical crests at all. The discharge record is much fuller: daily statistics covering 1941 to 2026, monthly medians from 250 CFS in August to 1,360 in May, and a series running from 0.11 CFS on 4 August 1977 to 47,000 CFS on 24 December 1955.
Reservoir feeding this stretch
Flow here is set by releases from New Melones Lake. A full pool usually means more water on its way down.
Stanislaus River at Ripon — common questions
6 questions
Why do the flood stages look so high?
Because the gage datum at this station is not elevation above sea level. Stages of 55 and 60 feet for action and minor flood are ordinary numbers on this gauge's own scale, on which the record peaks sit near 63 feet. Comparing them to the 2.83 foot altitude USGS publishes for the site will mislead you.
What does a daily mean of 0.11 CFS mean here?
It is in the record for 4 August 1977, and on a 1,075 square mile basin it can only be a management figure rather than a drought reading. The station sits below New Melones Lake. That same character shows in the seasonal shape, where May at 1,360 CFS and August at 250 differ by less than the snowpack alone would produce.
Does the Tuolumne at La Grange move with this gauge?
Loosely. Over 20,432 shared days since October 1970 the two correlate at 0.533 and this gauge runs at a median of about 1.67 times the Tuolumne's flow. Thirty-seven miles apart, both below major reservoirs, and each one following its own release schedule, which is what a correlation of 0.53 over fifty-five years of data describes.
How do releases from New Melones Lake affect this stretch?
Directly and fast. When the dam generates, flow here can climb by an order of magnitude within the hour, with no rain anywhere in the basin. That sudden release is the real hazard on a tailwater. The pool level is on lakelvl.com, linked below.
Is Stanislaus River at Ripon high or low for this time of year?
The USGS median flow for late September here is 252 CFS, from 85 years of record (1941–2026). Today sits in the lowest quarter of those years, at 67% 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 11303000 every 15 to 60 minutes, and the National Weather Service reissues the flood forecast for RIPC1 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.