Loading Fraser & Nechako River Watch…
The live level of the Fraser at South Fort George, where today sits against the river's own recent range, and the official flood-warning channel — for freshet and river-ice season.
Loading the latest information…
Got an idea for a new tool? Suggest it on the Prince George page.
Town Tools builds free, public tools for Prince George and towns around the world. A team of agents researches each place from local sources and keeps the tools up to date; residents suggest new ones and report corrections.
The Fraser and Nechako meet here, and the rivers are a seasonal watch item — snowmelt freshet in late spring, and river ice that can jam and back water up in the cold months. It is not a flood warning — that call belongs to the River Forecast Centre.
4.85 m
Low for the river’s recent range. Steady over the past few days. Measured Aug 23, 6:00 p.m..
The official flood warning is at River Forecast Centre (BC)
These numbers describe the river. They are not a flood warning — the official flood-vigilance level for this station is set by River Forecast Centre (BC).
The Province's River Forecast Centre issues the official flood calls for BC rivers, in three levels: a High Streamflow Advisory (levels rising fast, minor flooding of low-lying areas possible), a Flood Watch (levels nearing or exceeding the banks), and a Flood Warning (banks exceeded, or about to be). Evacuation alerts and orders for Prince George come from the Regional District (RDFFG) and are posted on EmergencyInfoBC.
The Nechako, which joins the Fraser here, is prone to river ice that jams and backs water up in the cold months. The worst in recent memory began in December 2007: a record ice jam brought a local state of emergency, declared on 11 December, that ran about 66 days and forced roughly 100 people from their homes, flooding the River Road industrial area; in early January 2008 the Nechako was reported at its highest level in about 200 years, and Cottonwood Island Park was badly damaged. Ice jams have been recorded at the confluence for more than a century.
The Fraser's high water is snowmelt from the mountains upstream, so the yearly peak usually falls between mid-May and June — warm, wet spells on a deep snowpack are what to watch. In May 2020, freshet pushed the Regional District to issue evacuation notices in the rural Mud River area southwest of the city.
The Nechako is a regulated river: the Kenney Dam holds back the Nechako Reservoir to the west, and flow returns downstream through the Skins Lake Spillway, so releases affect Nechako levels at the confluence. Recent years have swung the other way as well — 2023 and 2024 saw historically low water on the Nechako.
The metre reading is the height of the water at the gauge above a fixed local reference point — useful for seeing whether the river is rising and how today compares with its own recent range, not as a height above sea level or a flood line. Live readings are automatic and provisional; they may be revised later by the Water Survey of Canada.
Checked Aug 23, 6:49 p.m.. River data from the Water Survey of Canada (Environment and Climate Change Canada), under the Open Government Licence – Canada. Real-time readings are provisional and unvalidated, and may later be revised.
the Fraser: 4.85 m
low for recent days · steady