National Weather Service United States Department of Commerce

Frequently Asked Questions

  1.  How can I get old river stage values?
    • The U.S. Geologic Survey is responsible for maintaining the historical record of river stage data.  You can start looking for this data here.

  2. How can I get weather information for a certain date?
  3. Why don't you forecast for river X or city Y?
    • A number of factors come into play when deciding which rivers and towns receive forecasts: 
      • All River Forecast Center forecasting operations are geared towards larger streams and rivers...points that do no see significant rises until at least 6 hours after rainfall begins.  In the MARFC area, this generally translates into a stream draining at least 50 square miles.

      • In general, there should be a river gage where we make our forecasts.  We need stage readings to help us set up our forecasting procedures for that point and to tell us how well our models are handling the situation.

      • A combination of emergency management officials, the National Weather Service, and others decide which locations are forecasted.

  4. Do you have information from the Hurricane Agnes/January 1996/March 1936/etc. floods?

    • Brief summaries for all known flood events since 1692 can be found here.