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 Portland, OR

Northwest River Forecast Center

Hydrograph

River at a Glance

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

NOTE: Gauge reading affected by ocean tides. NOTE: Forecasts for the Columbia River at Vancouver are issued routinely year-round.

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Upstream Gauge

Downstream Gauge

Flood Categories (in feet) Major Flood Stage: 25 Moderate Flood Stage: 20 Flood Stage: 16 Action Stage: 15 Low Stage (in feet): 1 Historic Crests (1) 33.60 ft on 06/07/1894 (2) 31.00 ft on 06/13/1948 (3) 30.80 ft on 06/01/1948 (4) 27.70 ft on 12/25/1964 (5) 27.60 ft on 06/04/1956 Show More Historic Crests (P): Preliminary values subject to further review. Recent Crests (1) 15.60 ft on 04/12/2019 (2) 17.60 ft on 03/30/2017 (3) 17.43 ft on 06/02/2011 (4) 12.32 ft on 11/26/1999 (5) 15.00 ft on 12/30/1998 Show More Recent Crests (P): Preliminary values subject to further review. Low Water Records (1) -1.20 ft on 01/07/1937 (2) -1.10 ft on 11/08/1936 (3) -0.80 ft on 07/24/1989 (4) -0.80 ft on 07/30/1978 (5) -0.74 ft on 07/14/2001 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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34	expect flooding of much of downtown Vancouver, along with major flooding along the Columbia River from Vancouver downstream to Woodland along the Washington side and Portland and Sauvie Island on the Oregon side. Some lower levees may be overtopped.
31	expect major flooding. Overtopping of some lower levees is possible. Expect widespread inundation along the Columbia from Vancouver downstream to Woodland on the Washington side and Portland and Sauvie Island on the Oregon side. Tributary rivers will be backed up. Port operations and ship traffic will be affected.
30	expect widespread flood inundation along the Columbia from Vancouver downstream to Woodland. Numerous islands and sloughs on the Columbia upstream and downstream of the I-5 bridge are flooded. Many industries along the river have historically ceased operations at this level.
27	expect widespread flooding of low lying farmland, islands on the river, and sloughs in the Portland and Vancouver area. Historically, river traffic has been halted to prevent water from overtopping the lowest dikes along the river.
24	expect numerous sloughs to begin flooding in the Portland and Vancouver area. Numerous islands on the Columbia river both upstream and downstream from the Interstate Bridge have historically begun to flood at this point. Also expect flooding of parks and lowland areas near the Sandy River confluence above this level.
20	expect widespread flooding of unleveed lowland and agricultural land, along with flooding of the access road under the north end of the Interstate Bridge. Islands on the Columbia downstream from the Interstate Bridge are threatened above this level. Access to parks, trails, and some house-boat communities in and near Portland and Vancouver will be impacted.
18	expect flooding of property and farmland not protected by levees to begin. The main areas impacted have historically been from Sauvies Island downstream to Woodland. Inundation of parks and trails along the Columbia in and near Vancouver and Portland will continue. Access to some floating home communities may be affected.
17	expect flooding of some lowland access roads, parking areas, and trails on Sauvie Island, around Vancouver Lake, and other parks and trails along the Columbia in the Portland / Vancouver metro area. Access to some house-boat communities is impaired.
16.5	expect flooding of several parks along the Columbia River in Clark and Multnomah Counties, including Capt William Clark Park in Washougal, areas around Vancouver Lake, and trails along the Columbia River. Low areas on Sauvie Island and Government Island are flooded. Boaters should be aware of faster currents and more debris than usual in the river.
16	expect flooding of some islands and low areas, with minor impacts for parks and trails along the river.
Photos (1) NOS gage house

About This Location

Latitude: 45.631389° N, Longitude: 122.696389° W, Horizontal Datum: NAD83/WGS84 River Stage Reference Frame Gauge Height Flood Stage Uses NWS stage 0 ft 16 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 1.82 17.82 Older USGS topographic maps, NGVD29 benchmarks MSL Not Available Not Available Older USGS topographic maps, MSL benchmarks Other Not Available Not Available

Additional Information

Low Water Alerts are issued for stages below 1.0'. This gage replaced VANW1 as the river forecast location for the Columbia River at Vancouver. Real-time and archived data from Nat'l Ocean Service Archived/Historical Data at USACE DataQuery for VANW1 old gauge 10-day Forecast/Trend, Northwest River Forecast Center

Resources

Hydrologic Resources Text Products Past Precipitation Forecast Precipitation River Forecast Centers River Stage Summary Text Table Temp & Precip Forecasts 3-Day Detailed Precip Forecast 10-Day Temp & Precip Outlook Lewis Dams - USGS data (scroll down to Lewis basin) Lower Columbia Reservoir and River conditions USACE DataQuery USGS WaterWatch Oregon USGS WaterWatch Washington USGS River Temperatures & Water Quality Oregon USGS River Temperatures & Water Quality Washington Oregon Water Resources Dept - Surface Water Data USGS Oregon river levels USGS Washington river levels

Additional Resources Area Hydrographs NWS Precipitation and River Forecasting AHPS Iframes for Developers Mobile iNWS for emergency management Snow Data NRCS SNOTEL data map interface USACE Portland District Reservoirs USBR PacNW Reservoirs Oregon Drought Information National Drought Information

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 Portland Weather Forecast Office 5241 NE 122nd Avenue Portland, OR 97230-1089 (503) 261-9246 Ask Questions/Webmaster Page last modified: 2-Nov-2020 7:27 PM Disclaimer Credits Glossary Privacy Policy About Us Career Opportunities