Web Portal Changes: The Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service (AHPS) hosted at https://water.weather.gov will be replaced by the National Water Prediction Service (NWPS), with a target of Spring 2024. Existing AHPS content and features will be preserved and expanded within NWPS. The NWS is now accepting feedback on NWPS. Please visit https://www.weather.gov/owp/operations for more information.

Experimental National Water Center Products: Flood Inundation Mapping services are now available for 10% of the U.S. population. Please visit https://www.weather.gov/owp/operations for more information. The National Hydrologic Discussion, Area Hydrologic Discussion, Flood Hazard Outlook, and real-time geospatial services depicting River Forecast Center and National Water Model forecasts, continue to be accessible via the URL above, as described in the StoryMap here.

DID YOU KNOW... Please try our new TEST hydrograph page link at: https://preview.water.noaa.gov/gauges/abcde - Just replace “abcde” with your local hydrograph five character ID found in the lower left corner of the hydrograph.  In late March of 2024, the base URL path will become water.noaa.gov.  Feedback can be provided HERE

Weather Forecast Office Northern Indiana, IN

North Central River Forecast Center

Hydrograph

River at a Glance

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Probability Information Weekly Chance of Exceeding Levels Chance of Exceeding Levels During Entire Period Short-term Probabilistic Guidance (Experimental)

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Printable Image About this graph Tabular Data (UTC) Tabular Data (EST) Datum: NAVD88 Metadata

NOTE: River forecasts for this location take into account past precipitation and the precipitation amounts expected approximately 48 hours into the future from the forecast issuance time. NOTE: Forecasts for the St. Joseph River (MI/IN) at South Bend are issued as needed during times of high water, but are not routinely available. Vertical datum height surveyed by the USGS

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Upstream Gauge

Downstream Gauge

Flood Categories (in feet) Major Flood Stage: 9 Moderate Flood Stage: 8 Flood Stage: 5.5 Action Stage: 4.5 Low Stage (in feet): -9999 Historic Crests (1) 12.70 ft on 02/22/2018 (2) 10.90 ft on 01/06/1993 (3) 10.90 ft on 03/15/1982 (4) 10.70 ft on 02/24/1985 (5) 9.60 ft on 01/09/2008 Show More Historic Crests (P): Preliminary values subject to further review. Recent Crests (1) 6.43 ft on 06/28/2021 (P) (2) 6.83 ft on 05/20/2020 (3) 7.13 ft on 05/02/2019 (4) 12.70 ft on 02/22/2018 (5) 7.80 ft on 04/20/2013 Show More Recent Crests (P): Preliminary values subject to further review. Low Water Records (1) 0.00 ft on 09/29/2010 (2) 0.07 ft on 11/29/2008 (3) 0.07 ft on 09/06/2020 Show More Low Water Records For more information on your flood risk go to www.floodsmart.gov. Show FEMA's National Flood Hazard Layers FEMA's National Flood Hazard Layers not showing? Why aren't the FEMA National Flood Hazard Layers showing on the ESRI Map? Possible reasons: There are no FEMA National Flood Hazard Layers for the location which you are viewing on ESRI Maps. The FEMA Web Mapping Service (WMS) is down. Note: Your zoom level may have changed. ESRI's zoom levels must be between 14 and 16 to show National Flood Hazard layers.

Zoom Level:16 Legend FEMA Layer Gauge Location Disclaimer Latitude/Longitude Disclaimer: The gauge location shown in the above map is the approximate location based on the latitude/longitude coordinates provided to the NWS by the gauge owner.

Flood Impacts & Photos

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11.1	The river is at the 100 year flood level.
11	Business areas near Indiana University at South Bend campus are flooded. Residents in River Commons, near Keller Park and Riverside Drive between Marion and Bartlett are flooded in their basements. Street flooding closes portions of Northshore Drive and Northside Blvd. Evacuations may be necessary and the wastewater treatment plant will be completely flooded.
10	Flooding affects commercial areas near Indiana University at South Bend campus along Northside Blvd.
9	Major flooding is in progress. Flooding almost completely submerges parks and floods local streets near the St. Joseph River.
8	Flood waters begin to affect river parks and roads and may affect portions of Northside Blvd in the area of Veterans Memorial Park, and Riverside Drive in the areas south of Leeper Park, by Keller Park and Woodland Park. High water may cause flooding of basements and interfere with some commercial activities.
7	Flooding is confined to park land and park roads. Some backyard flooding may occur in low lying residential areas near the river.
6	Flooding is confined to mostly park land and golf courses. Leeper Park and Petro golf courses begin to flood.
5.5	The river reaches flood stage with the lowest residential areas beginning to flood.
Photos (1) Staff gauge at low flow (2) South Bend staff gauge

About This Location

Latitude: 41.720278° N, Longitude: 86.267778° W, Horizontal Datum: NAD83/WGS84 River Stage Reference Frame Gauge Height Flood Stage Uses NWS stage 0 ft 5.5 ft Interpreting hydrographs and NWS watch, warnings, and forecasts, and inundation maps Vertical Datum Elevation (gauge height = 0) Elevation (gauge height = flood stage) Elevation information source NAVD88 656.40 661.90 Survey grade GPS equipment, FEMA flood plain maps, newer USGS topographic maps NGVD 29 Not Available Not Available Older USGS topographic maps, NGVD29 benchmarks MSL Not Available Not Available Older USGS topographic maps, MSL benchmarks Other Not Available Not Available   Current/Historical Observations: U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Data and Site Info for South Bend

Additional Information

As of July 28, 2021 the data source for this location was transitioned from the manual staff gauge of record to the co-located USGS automated stream gauge which was installed in February 7, 2019. This also included a datum change from NGVD29 to NAVD88. The flood of record (12.70ft) occurred prior to the automated gauge installation and was using the manual staff gauge zero datum of 656.90ft NGVD29. How low could the river get?

Resources

Hydrologic Resources Text Products Past Precipitation Forecast Precipitation River Forecast Centers River Stage Summary US Geological Survery Surface Water Inundation Mapping Locations

Additional Resources Area Hydrographs NWS Precipitation and River Forecasting AHPS Iframes for Developers Mobile iNWS for emergency management NOAA Drought Information Center Snow Information Water Resource Outlook Ohio Valley Experimental Ensemble River Forecasts

Collaborative Agencies The National Weather Service prepares its forecasts and other services in collaboration with agencies like the US Geological Survey, US Bureau of Reclamation, US Army Corps of Engineers, Natural Resource Conservation Service, National Park Service, ALERT Users Group, Bureau of Indian Affairs, and many state and local emergency managers across the country. For details, please click here. NWS Information National Weather Service Northern Indiana Weather Forecast Office 7506 E 850 N Syracuse, IN 46567 (574) 834-1104 Ask Questions/Webmaster Page last modified: 2-Nov-2020 7:30 PM Disclaimer Credits Glossary Privacy Policy About Us Career Opportunities