The monitoring network within this area

Hydrionis holds 2,122 values from 8 gauges within it. Discharge is a property of a gauge and its reach, not of this drainage area, so this page reports the network and its records rather than a single figure.

Gauges

2,122

Values held

1893–2026

Record spans

Gauges within the Upper James huc8 subbasin

8 monitoring points, positioned as the publisher records them.

Flood peaks, as measured

This gauge's flood record, as measured. Unlike a daily mean it is the discharge at the moment the river was highest, which is the figure flood frequency analysis is built on.

Largest measured flow of each year at JAMES RIVER AT BUCHANAN, VA

The highest instantaneous discharge the publisher recorded in each year — a flood peak as measured, not a daily average of one. 1893–2025.

Show relevant events (1 event)Shading marks when something was recorded, not what caused the line.

Published by the gauge's own operator from its sub-daily record; Hydrionis stores the figure rather than recomputing it. A year the gauge did not cover produces no value rather than a low one, and the gaps are stated below the chart. A peak is a property of this gauge and its reach: a larger flood upstream or downstream of it is not in this series.

What the shaded periods are (1 event)

A shaded period marks when something was recorded, not what caused the shape of the line. Where the two coincide, they coincided.

Documented record — A documented event, compiled from cited sources after it happened. The dates are as good as the record, which for older events can mean the month rather than the day.

Event	Type	Period	Standing	Authority
Hurricane Katrina water and sanitation collapse	Flood	2005-08-29 – 2005-09-30	Documented record	Compiled record

Not shown on this chart

The 1976 drought — This event’s area does not contain this chart’s subject. Sharing a country is not sharing an event, so it is not drawn.
The 2022 drought — This event’s area does not contain this chart’s subject. Sharing a country is not sharing an event, so it is not drawn.
Yorkshire drought — This event’s area does not contain this chart’s subject. Sharing a country is not sharing an event, so it is not drawn.
Cantareira water crisis, São Paulo — This event’s area does not contain this chart’s subject. Sharing a country is not sharing an event, so it is not drawn.
Cape Town Day Zero — This event’s area does not contain this chart’s subject. Sharing a country is not sharing an event, so it is not drawn.
European drought — This event’s area does not contain this chart’s subject. Sharing a country is not sharing an event, so it is not drawn.

View the data behind this chart

Underlying data
Period	JAMES RIVER AT BUCHANAN, VA (m³/s)
1893	1,019
1895	1,410
1896	1,076
1897	1,144
1898	728
1899	1,470
1900	674
1902	2,152
1903	1,240
1904	580
1905	1,042
1906	680
1907	1,184
1908	1,410
1909	1,005
1910	1,099
1911	728
1912	1,130
1913	2,973
1914	507
1915	1,589
1917	1,263
1918	1,218
1919	1,354
1920	759
1921	691
1922	685
1923	532
1924	1,699
1925	331
1926	813
1928	1,104
1929	850
1931	340
1932	991
1933	705
1934	906
1935	1,994
1936	2,381
1937	1,172
1939	1,025
1940	1,164
1941	660
1942	1,481
1943	994
1944	507
1945	614
1946	954
1947	731
1948	1,099
1949	1,552
1950	943
1952	1,189
1953	1,359
1954	1,314
1955	1,382
1956	447
1957	1,314
1958	835
1959	569
1960	1,266
1961	640
1963	1,750
1964	779
1965	1,008
1966	1,019
1967	1,557
1968	609
1969	1,863
1970	1,402
1971	1,320
1972	3,143
1973	1,498
1975	1,189
1976	974
1977	1,869
1978	1,790
1979	1,433
1980	1,232
1981	869
1982	1,229
1983	954
1984	1,322
1985	527
1987	2,155
1988	411
1989	991
1990	844
1991	1,062
1992	1,979
1993	1,535
1995	1,835
1996	2,917
1998	1,444
1999	360
2000	595
2001	643
2002	518
2003	2,039
2004	1,733
2005	714
2006	1,368
2007	994
2008	583
2009	394
2010	1,201
2011	835
2013	1,147
2014	603
2015	889
2016	1,215
2017	957
2018	1,014
2019	1,002
2020	1,144
2021	745
2022	515
2023	694
2024	787
2025	1,453

About this series

Everything below is a property of the data rather than a rating of it. There is deliberately no single confidence score: how much a gap matters depends on what you are about to do with the series, and only you know that.

Source	United States Geological Survey — National Water Information System · US Government work — public domain
How the values came to exist	Measured
Period held	1893–2025
Completeness	90.2% of the periods in that span are held. Gaps are drawn as breaks and never interpolated.
Known gaps	13 separate periods inside 1893–2025 hold no value. They are drawn as breaks in the line and are never interpolated across.
Continuity	The record begins in 1893 and is not continuous from it: 133 years separate the first value from the last, and 90% of the years between them are held. The span is not the record.
Last read from the publisher	2026-10-01
Redistribution	Permitted by the upstream licences
Commercial reuse	Permitted by the upstream licences. No Hydrionis access tier can widen this.
Methodology	How this was produced

How much of the rain came back out

A discharge in cubic metres per second cannot be compared with anything: the larger number may only mean the larger catchment. Divided by the area draining to the gauge it becomes a depth of water over that land, which answers a question a reader already has — of the rain that fell here, how much came back out as river?

Water leaving the catchment above COWPASTURE RIVER NEAR CLIFTON FORGE, VA, as a depth

The year's flow spread over the land draining to this gauge, in millimetres — the same unit rainfall is measured in. 1926–2025.

Show relevant events (1 event)Shading marks when something was recorded, not what caused the line.

Computed by Hydrionis from the published annual mean flow and the catchment area the station's own publisher states. It is not a water balance: the difference between rainfall and runoff is not evaporation alone but also change in groundwater storage, water abstracted and taken elsewhere, and water imported by transfer schemes — which is why a catchment can yield more runoff than the rain that fell on it without anything being measured wrongly. A different area figure rescales every value here by the ratio between them.

What the shaded periods are (1 event)

A shaded period marks when something was recorded, not what caused the shape of the line. Where the two coincide, they coincided.

Documented record — A documented event, compiled from cited sources after it happened. The dates are as good as the record, which for older events can mean the month rather than the day.

Event	Type	Period	Standing	Authority
Hurricane Katrina water and sanitation collapse	Flood	2005-08-29 – 2005-09-30	Documented record	Compiled record

Not shown on this chart

The 1976 drought — This event’s area does not contain this chart’s subject. Sharing a country is not sharing an event, so it is not drawn.
The 2022 drought — This event’s area does not contain this chart’s subject. Sharing a country is not sharing an event, so it is not drawn.
Yorkshire drought — This event’s area does not contain this chart’s subject. Sharing a country is not sharing an event, so it is not drawn.
Cantareira water crisis, São Paulo — This event’s area does not contain this chart’s subject. Sharing a country is not sharing an event, so it is not drawn.
Cape Town Day Zero — This event’s area does not contain this chart’s subject. Sharing a country is not sharing an event, so it is not drawn.
European drought — This event’s area does not contain this chart’s subject. Sharing a country is not sharing an event, so it is not drawn.

View the data behind this chart

Underlying data
Period	COWPASTURE RIVER NEAR CLIFTON FORGE, VA (mm)
1926	404
1927	445
1928	398
1929	478
1930	153
1931	216
1932	431
1933	393
1934	295
1935	491
1936	515
1937	514
1938	284
1939	361
1940	438
1941	191
1942	465
1943	431
1944	308
1945	308
1946	309
1947	297
1948	583
1949	577
1950	464
1951	486
1952	459
1953	352
1954	369
1955	330
1956	230
1957	418
1958	392
1959	350
1960	399
1961	432
1962	373
1963	303
1964	328
1965	345
1966	312
1967	375
1968	276
1969	319
1970	337
1971	460
1972	688
1973	613
1974	391
1975	472
1976	376
1977	300
1978	395
1979	673
1980	406
1981	206
1982	491
1983	457
1984	525
1985	449
1986	270
1987	513
1988	215
1989	651
1990	441
1991	412
1992	426
1993	455
1994	469
1995	349
1996	719
1997	324
1998	529
1999	252
2000	277
2001	247
2002	309
2003	774
2004	505
2005	357
2006	477
2007	408
2008	308
2009	409
2010	353
2011	495
2012	305
2013	490
2014	374
2015	453
2016	406
2017	315
2018	676
2019	462
2020	593
2021	430
2022	338
2023	254
2024	305
2025	374

About this series

Source	United States Geological Survey — National Water Information System · US Government work — public domain
How the values came to exist	Derived Computed by Hydrionis
Period held	1926–2025
Completeness	100.0% of the periods in that span are held.
Continuity	Continuous: every year from 1926 to 2025 is held.
Inputs last read	2026-10-01 · when the records this was computed from were last read from their publishers
Calculation date	2026-08-24 · when the calculation method was last versioned, not a reading of any publisher
Redistribution	Permitted by the upstream licences
Commercial reuse	Permitted by the upstream licences. No Hydrionis access tier can widen this.
Methodology	How this was produced

Every gauge Hydrionis holds within this area

Gauges within the Upper James and what each holds
Gauge	Measures	Values	Record
CRAIG CREEK AT PARR, VA	burned area within 50 km, catchment area, annual maximum river flow, mean river flow, mean river flow, water year	338	1925–2026
COWPASTURE RIVER NEAR CLIFTON FORGE, VA	burned area within 50 km, catchment area, annual maximum river flow, mean river flow, mean river flow, water year	337	1925–2026
JOHNS CREEK AT NEW CASTLE, VA	burned area within 50 km, catchment area, annual maximum river flow, mean river flow, mean river flow, water year	332	1926–2026
DUNLAP CREEK NEAR COVINGTON, VA	burned area within 50 km, catchment area, annual maximum river flow, mean river flow, mean river flow, water year	328	1928–2026
POTTS CREEK NEAR COVINGTON, VA	burned area within 50 km, catchment area, annual maximum river flow, mean river flow, mean river flow, water year	298	1928–2026
JACKSON RIVER AT FALLING SPRING, VA	burned area within 50 km, catchment area, annual maximum river flow, mean river flow, mean river flow, water year	253	1925–2026
JAMES RIVER AT BUCHANAN, VA	catchment area, annual maximum river flow	134	1893–2026
JAMES RIVER AT LICK RUN, VA	catchment area, annual maximum river flow	102	1925–2026

How these gauges were attached to this water

Assigned by the publisher to a numbered basin Every gauge here is assigned to this drainage area by its own publisher, which issues the area an official code — 02080201. A drainage area is not a river: it contains the tributaries as well as the main channel, and a gauge in it may be on any of them.

What each gauge’s link to this water rests on
Gauge	Evidence	Established
CRAIG CREEK AT PARR, VA	Stated by the publisher — USGS site service, huc_cd field — https://waterservices.usgs.gov/nwis/site/ ; named from the USGS Watershed Boundary Dataset 8-digit HU (Subbasin) layer — https://hydro.nationalmap.gov/arcgis/rest/services/wbd/MapServer/4	2026-10-02
COWPASTURE RIVER NEAR CLIFTON FORGE, VA	Stated by the publisher — USGS site service, huc_cd field — https://waterservices.usgs.gov/nwis/site/ ; named from the USGS Watershed Boundary Dataset 8-digit HU (Subbasin) layer — https://hydro.nationalmap.gov/arcgis/rest/services/wbd/MapServer/4	2026-10-02
JOHNS CREEK AT NEW CASTLE, VA	Stated by the publisher — USGS site service, huc_cd field — https://waterservices.usgs.gov/nwis/site/ ; named from the USGS Watershed Boundary Dataset 8-digit HU (Subbasin) layer — https://hydro.nationalmap.gov/arcgis/rest/services/wbd/MapServer/4	2026-10-02
DUNLAP CREEK NEAR COVINGTON, VA	Stated by the publisher — USGS site service, huc_cd field — https://waterservices.usgs.gov/nwis/site/ ; named from the USGS Watershed Boundary Dataset 8-digit HU (Subbasin) layer — https://hydro.nationalmap.gov/arcgis/rest/services/wbd/MapServer/4	2026-10-02
POTTS CREEK NEAR COVINGTON, VA	Stated by the publisher — USGS site service, huc_cd field — https://waterservices.usgs.gov/nwis/site/ ; named from the USGS Watershed Boundary Dataset 8-digit HU (Subbasin) layer — https://hydro.nationalmap.gov/arcgis/rest/services/wbd/MapServer/4	2026-10-02
JACKSON RIVER AT FALLING SPRING, VA	Stated by the publisher — USGS site service, huc_cd field — https://waterservices.usgs.gov/nwis/site/ ; named from the USGS Watershed Boundary Dataset 8-digit HU (Subbasin) layer — https://hydro.nationalmap.gov/arcgis/rest/services/wbd/MapServer/4	2026-10-02
JAMES RIVER AT BUCHANAN, VA	Stated by the publisher — USGS site service, huc_cd field — https://waterservices.usgs.gov/nwis/site/ ; named from the USGS Watershed Boundary Dataset 8-digit HU (Subbasin) layer — https://hydro.nationalmap.gov/arcgis/rest/services/wbd/MapServer/4	2026-10-02
JAMES RIVER AT LICK RUN, VA	Stated by the publisher — USGS site service, huc_cd field — https://waterservices.usgs.gov/nwis/site/ ; named from the USGS Watershed Boundary Dataset 8-digit HU (Subbasin) layer — https://hydro.nationalmap.gov/arcgis/rest/services/wbd/MapServer/4	2026-10-02

What this record holds

Hydrionis decides which waters get a page, and which of those are offered to search, from what is actually held rather than from how the page reads. Five signals are counted; this record has 5 of them, which makes it a full profile.

Information-gain signals held for this water body
Signal	Held	Counts
Gauges holding a real record	8	yes, 3 or more
Years spanned	134	yes, 20 or more
Values held	2,122	yes, 1000 or more
Distinct measurements	5	yes, 2 or more
Publishers measuring it	2	yes, 2 or more
Official identifiers	1	recorded, not counted

Use this data

Machine-readable JSON /api/v1/observations/by-subject/gauge-usgs-02018000.json
How to cite this, and who you must credit
How these figures were produced
Request this at a different scale, format or geography

No bulk download is offered here, which is a licence position rather than a product one: at least one contributing publisher does not permit redistribution. The values can be read on the page, cited, and pointed to at source.

Attribution and citation

Suggested citation for Hydrionis

Hydrionis (2026), Upper James gauge records, accessed 2026-10-05, hydrionis.com/waters/united-states-upper-james/

Cite Hydrionis where you rely on values Hydrionis computed, on the method that produced them, or on the compilation itself. The underlying measurements remain the publishers’ and their attribution requirements apply to you directly.

Recommended, not required. Hydrionis does not claim rights over unmodified public data it relayed, and doing arithmetic on somebody else’s measurements does not make them Hydrionis’s. Cite the version and the access date: the Upper James gauge records changes as publishers release and as methods are revised, and a citation without both cannot be checked later. Full guidance is on cite and reuse.

None of the contributing licences requires attribution. Crediting the publishers is still good practice and they are listed above.

Where these figures come from

MeasuredHigh confidence2025-02-16

Source: USGS — National Water Information System, USGS site 02018000, annual peak streamflow. Licence: Open.

Method: The instantaneous maximum discharge of each water year as published by USGS, dated to the day it occurred. One value per October-to-September water year; where the publisher lists both a systematic and a historic peak for a year, the larger is the annual maximum. Values the publisher marks as maximum daily averages are not held here, because they are not instantaneous peaks. Values marked as bounded rather than measured are held as censored observations carrying the bound. Cubic feet per second are converted to cubic metres per second and the publisher unit is recorded alongside.

Rating curves are extrapolated at extreme discharges, so the largest values in a peak series carry the largest measurement uncertainty. Data from the U.S. Geological Survey National Water Information System, a work of the United States government and therefore in the public domain.

Retrieved 1 October 2026.