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 March 2024. Existing AHPS content and features will be preserved and expanded within NWPS.

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.

Weather Forecast Office San Francisco Bay Area, CA

California Nevada River Forecast Center

Hydrograph

River at a Glance

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Probability Information Weekly Chance of Exceeding Levels Not Available Chance of Exceeding Levels During Entire Period Not Available Short-term Probabilistic Guidance (Experimental) Not Available

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Printable Image About this graph Tabular Data (UTC) Tabular Data (PDT) Datum: NGVD29 Metadata

NOTE: Forecasts for the Salinas River near Spreckels are issued routinely year-round.

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Upstream Gauge

Downstream Gauge

Flood Categories (in feet) Major Flood Stage: 28 Moderate Flood Stage: 26 Flood Stage: 23 Action Stage: 20 Low Stage (in feet): -9999 Historic Crests (1) 30.29 ft on 03/12/1995 (2) 26.51 ft on 02/26/1969 (3) 25.00 ft on 02/12/1938 (4) 24.60 ft on 01/13/2023 (P) (5) 24.54 ft on 02/08/1998 Show More Historic Crests (P): Preliminary values subject to further review. Recent Crests (1) 24.60 ft on 01/13/2023 (P) (2) 9.24 ft on 12/29/2021 (3) 12.94 ft on 01/30/2021 (4) 8.34 ft on 04/08/2020 (5) 17.88 ft on 02/16/2019 Show More Recent Crests (P): Preliminary values subject to further review. Low Water Records Currently none available.

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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30.29	Flood of Record, March 12, 1995, 95,000 cfs. Disastrous flood damage to roads and agriculture land in the Salinas Valley. The city of Salinas in danger of being inundated, with the lowest portions of the city beginning to flood. Historical Note: at least 2,000 acres of agricultural land were permanently destroyed by erosion and soil deposition by this flood of record.
30	Disastrous floding within the reach of the gage. Major damage to Southern Pacific Railroad near Castroville and Spreckels. Castroville residences and businesses from Merritt Street toward the Salinas River inundated. Disastrous flooding to farm land in the Salinas Valley, including severe damage due to erosion and sediment deposition. At least 100,000 acres inundated. Travel in the Salinas Valley near impossible. Water/sewage treatment plants flooded.
29	Major flooding continues along the entire reach. Possible evacuations of Soledad, Gonzales, Chualar, Spreckels, and Castroville. All roads to Spreckels inundated, isolating the town. US 101 inundated just north of Soledad. Highway 1 south of Castroville near Nashua Road begins to flood.
28	Major flooding of agricultural land within the reach of the gages. Major flooding begins along lower portions of Soledad, Gonzales, Chualar, Spence, Spreckels and Castroville. Water/sewage treatment plants in danger of being flooded. Many secondary and some primary roads inundated making travel difficult in the Salinas Valley. Highway 156 and 68 inundated and closed. Major damage to wide expanses of agricultural land in the Salinas Valley with 40,000 acres inundated.
27	Moderate flooding continues along the reach. Approaches to river bridges within the reach begin to erode. Lower portions of Castroville begin to flood. Highway 156 near Castroville begins to flood. Flooding to Foster Road, 1 mile of Salinas.
26	Moderate flooding of agricultural land and lower portions of Soledad, Gonzales, Chualar, Spence and Spreckels. Primary and secondary roads begin to flood within the reach. Highway 68 begins to flood. Levees in danger of breaching along the reach. At least 20,000 acres of farm land inundated in the Salinas Valley.
24	Significant flooding of the lowest portions of agricultural land begins within the reach of the gage. River Road and Spreckels Boulevard begin to flood.
23	A few farm residences will begin to flood near the Salinas River along the reach of the gage. River Road will begin to flood near Spreckels.
19	Minor lowland flooding of agricultural land can be expected.

About This Location

Latitude: 36.631071° N, Longitude: 121.672446° W, Horizontal Datum: NAD83/WGS84 River Stage Reference Frame Gauge Height Flood Stage Uses NWS stage 0 ft 23 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 Not Available Not Available Survey grade GPS equipment, FEMA flood plain maps, newer USGS topographic maps NGVD 29 20.56 ft 43.56 ft 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: Corps of Engineers (COE) Info for Spreckels U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Data and Site Info for Spreckels

Resources

Hydrologic Resources Text Products Past Precipitation Forecast Precipitation River Forecast Centers River Stage Summary California Data Exchange Center Most Recent Scheduled Reservoir Releases USGS Real-time Data for California USGS - Western Region Geologic Information Inundation Mapping Locations

Additional Resources Area Hydrographs NWS Precipitation and River Forecasting AHPS Iframes for Developers Mobile iNWS for emergency management Snow Information

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