Rhine water levels 2018 and similar topics

Sadly I suspect that river levels have increased thanks to Korea.

Sadly I suspect that river levels have increased thanks to Korea.

I think I must have missed the setup for your punchline.

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It was South Korea that beat Germany in the World Cup. It is all over for Germany for this year and the boys have already flown home. So much debate and talking about the future of a) the German coach, b) the football team, c) German football as a whole...

CPT Trips,

your comment almost conjured up images in my head of 11plus young men sitting, beaten and with their heads hanging low, in a bar with the lights low - like in an old Hollywood film - listening to Julie London's version of "Cry me a river".

But now onward, there are other teams still playing and need to be cheered! :)

The river level has fallen to 138cm at Koblenz.

notamermaid

It was South Korea that beat Germany in the World Cup. It is all over for Germany for this year and the boys have already flown home. So much debate and talking about the future of a) the German coach, b) the football team, c) German football as a whole...

 

 

 

 

 

CPT Trips,

 

 

 

your comment almost conjured up images in my head of 11plus young men sitting, beaten and with their heads hanging low, in a bar with the lights low - like in an old Hollywood film - listening to Julie London's version of "Cry me a river".

 

 

 

 

 

But now onward, there are other teams still playing and need to be cheered! :)

 

 

 

The river level has fallen to 138cm at Koblenz.

 

 

 

notamermaid

Thanks notamermaid. I don’t really pay attention to that sport. I will watch for a while if I “channel surf” into it or if Team USA is playing, so the Korea reference went right over my head.

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jeb_bud,

Many upsets in this year's World Cup. And the US wasn't good enough to make it. Still a lot of great players and good teams still in it.

CPT Trips,

I don’t doubt you. I just never learned enough about soccer to understand and appreciate the intricacies of the sport. I watch (American) football all season, baseball during the World Series and basketball when the Warriors are playing.

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Cologne will get a new museum, due to be opened in 2021, focussing on Jewish history: https://www.dw.com/en/cologne-breaks-ground-on-new-jewish-museum/a-44463000

And on the subject of UNESCO World Heritage Sites, here are the new ones inscribed this year: https://www.dw.com/en/welcoming-the-new-2018-unesco-world-heritage-sites/g-44418439

The river level has fallen to 133cm in Kaub and is likely to fall further with there being little or no rain. Rain is forecast though for later in the week which will probably keep the level from falling below 115cm this week. 100cm we do not want to see it fall below at all. By the way, if you see reports of river traffic being impacted on the Rhine right now it will refer to cargo shipping as the ships have already had to lighten their load. They have a deeper draft than river cruise ships and cannot travel with full load in the current levels.

notamermaid

Hello, any updates on Rhine water levels? We will be cruising on Viking Mani, Basel to Amsterdam, starting July 20th. Thanks, Fred

It is raining around Lake Constance and the High Rhine area, the rain will drift into the Black Forest later today, making the water level rise in the Upper Rhine valley, but not higher than the mean. As the river is quite low and rain is not expected today for the valley downstream from Strasbourg or coming from the large tributaries the level will almost stay put in the Middle Rhine valley and beyond. We are experiencing hot weather which will stay with us for a few days. The forecast currently is for the rain this week not cooling the temperature down for long or having a great impact on river levels. River levels look good for some days to come (around 11 July, but probably for longer, unless it rains by the bucket load for more than a few hours). If the heatwave continues without rain we could experience official low water towards the end of July, currently it is just low, what we expect in Summer.

Lots of digging going on all over Germany by archaeologists and as I have said before when people start digging around here - for whatever reason - they are likely to find either a) Roman walls or similar b) medieval cemeteries, remains, etc, or c) WWII bombs. Yesterday it was announced that in Mainz they found - luckily - type a)! In the Zollhafen area, meaning toll harbour, a massive building project is under construction. That is where they found 45 Roman amphoras. They are well preserved, and after their use for transporting goods from the Mediterranean were apparently used as building material in the embankment along the river to stabilize the ground of a settlement close to the river. I have not found an English language report, so here is a German one as I like the good photo of the amphoras: https://www.swr.de/swraktuell/rheinland-pfalz/mainz/2000-Jahre-alte-Amphoren-in-Mainz-entdeckt,amphoren-entdeckt-mainz-102.html

notamermaid

The first report for the season on low water is out. Issued by the German Institute for Hydrology it is dated 29 June and just headlined "Low water is approaching". I have already mentioned it in the thread about the Elbe. On the Elbe things look worse in the free-flowing section than on the other main rivers for river cruise traffic. So far the Rhine has fared there best, but even here we are getting closer to what is termed as "Glw". This abbreviation means the basis for all shipping, i.e. the point at which the minimum depth of the navigation channel cannot be guaranteed. Here is the report: https://www.bafg.de/DE/07_Nachrichten/20180629_download.pdf?__blob=publicationFile In the photo of the Elbe the ships quite literally look grounded. Not sure if this is correct, but it certainly looks really low. To keep it simple: just look at the graph of "Abb 3." The red line is the river level at Magdeburg on the Elbe, the corresponding red dotted line the navigation channel depth, the red line has fallen partly below it. The green lines are on the Danube, you can see that they almost merge. That is really bad for barges, I am not sure how much it affects river cruise ships but from what cruisers have reported in the last few days it does not look too good there either.

In the graph the Rhine is represented by Maxau in orange and Ruhrort in yellow. Maxau is still fine for some time to come but in low water Ruhrort is a better indicator of problems, that place being much further downstream and therefore incorporating the tributaries' "behaviour". The two lines for Ruhrort are a little closer together showing that where the navigation channel is not so deep even the Rhine is getting close to real problems. And for the Rhine that means in the Rhine gorge where the navigation channel is the least deep we could well get close to that all important ominous base line this Summer or early Autumn.

Please note that the minimum depth of the navigation channel differs on the individual river sections. The Moselle for example is quite deep therefore river cruise ships do not experience problems in low water in Luxembourg or Germany.

It is not just a guess of mine, the statistical figures from the metereologists for rain this Spring and Summer show lower than average rainfall. If the current weather conditions continue - and the figures show this with temperatures again reaching over 30 degrees maximum probably on several days over the next ten days - we are very likely to see river levels falling further.

By the way, it is not only Germany and its neighbouring countries' border regions affected, even the UK has high temperatures and I have read of a hose pipe ban having been issued by some authorities. It essentially means you are not allowed to use sprinklers on your lawn or water garden/house plants with a hose pipe. I.e. save water!

Lastly, the figures: Kaub is at 137cm, Koblenz at 130cm. So no worries there yet. We had a little bit of rain yesterday. A bit more to come today in the Upper Rhine valley. In fact, it is raining in Basel right now.

notamermaid

The rain we had last week was substantial enough to raise the water levels by quite a few centimetres. Koblenz is now at 155cm. Over the next few days little rain is forecast upstream from there so predictions are for falling levels, to around what we saw before the rain (130cm). If the current weather conditions continue - which they well might according to meteorologists - than we will see lower figures than that.

I mentioned the small river Lahn in an earlier post. A right-bank tributary of the Rhine just a few kilometres upstream from Koblenz, it is popular with day trippers, cyclists and canooists. Here is a small photo gallery: https://www.dw.com/en/a-river-hiking-tour-along-the-lahn/g-44545209

You might think it is too complicated to get to the river landscape without a car. It is fairly easy if you like train rides. You can get there from Koblenz on the line called RE25. It is a beautiful landscape, with old bridges and modern, comfortable carriages taking you across them.

I recommend Limburg cathedral for a trip out from the Rhine.

notamermaid

Next Tuesday I plan on being on the Viking ship going down the Rhine. I was wondering if there is any concern with water levels or guest having to switch ships?

Next Tuesday I plan on being on the Viking ship going down the Rhine. I was wondering if there is any concern with water levels or guest having to switch ships?

Hi, I’m wondering the same thing about our Avalon cruise in early August on the Rhine & Moselle

Next Tuesday I plan on being on the Viking ship going down the Rhine. I was wondering if there is any concern with water levels or guest having to switch ships?

Rhine should not have been a problem for you. If you continued on to the Danube, betcha found out the hard way that Viking ships don't do too well in low water conditions.

Hi, I’m wondering the same thing about our Avalon cruise in early August on the Rhine & Moselle

No possible way of knowing, even a few days ahead. BUT, Rhine and Moselle should be in much better shape than the Danube.

By the way, we did the Rhine and Moselle with Avalon four years ago. It was awesome!

No possible way of knowing, even a few days ahead. BUT, Rhine and Moselle should be in much better shape than the Danube.

 

By the way, we did the Rhine and Moselle with Avalon four years ago. It was awesome!

Thanks! That makes me feel better :) I cruised this itinerary several years ago with my parents & can’t wait to go again with Hubby this time. Avalon is awesome!

Hello everyone. While it has rained a bit temperatures are staying relatively high, though. All gauging stations downstream from (and including) Andernach near Koblenz are now on official low water status. More importantly, Kaub has fallen to its lowest level so far this Summer. 86cm is not good. Minor disruptions could happen soon at some docking places and for sailing in the Rhine gorge.

More info to follow when I am back on my computer.

notamermaid

Keep us posted on the Rhine We are scheduled to begin in Basel 9 June.

Keep us posted on the Rhine We are scheduled to begin in Basel 9 June.

Do you mean 9 August?

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Hello everyone. While it has rained a bit temperatures are staying relatively high, though. All gauging stations downstream from (and including) Andernach near Koblenz are now on official low water status. More importantly, Kaub has fallen to its lowest level so far this Summer. 86cm is not good. Minor disruptions could happen soon at some docking places and for sailing in the Rhine gorge.

 

More info to follow when I am back on my computer.

 

notamermaid

Nota mermaid,

Do you know how the water level is on the Rhône? Departing Aug 11 from Arles.

Nota mermaid,

Do you know how the water level is on the Rhône? Departing Aug 11 from Arles.

No one knows.

We are in Passau at this time. The river boats cannot go through to Nuremberg. We will stay overnight here, take buses to visit Regensberg tomorrow, and be bussed to Nuremberg the following day, to pick up our sister ship. This has been happening for about a month, or a month and a half. Staff would not confirm this until last evening. They are assisting as much as possible to make this a seamless transfer. As we do not like bus rides, and at least 3 maybe 4 hours with stops to Nuremberg, we will just take a car. Then it is only about 2 hours. Good luck to fellow travelers.

I am sailing on the Viking Kara on the Rhine Getaway in October 2018. Are there water level concerns during this time? This is my first River Cruise and visit to Europe, any tips on packing for the weather at this time of year?

TIA for any advice/info

We are in Passau at this time. The river boats cannot go through to Nuremberg. We will stay overnight here, take buses to visit Regensberg tomorrow, and be bussed to Nuremberg the following day, to pick up our sister ship. This has been happening for about a month, or a month and a half. Staff would not confirm this until last evening. They are assisting as much as possible to make this a seamless transfer. As we do not like bus rides, and at least 3 maybe 4 hours with stops to Nuremberg, we will just take a car. Then it is only about 2 hours. Good luck to fellow travelers.

Hot in Passau today, we just spent the afternoon in a beer garden overlooking the Danube.

Passau to Nuremberg is a good two hour drive, have a good journey and enjoy the even hotter weather over the next few days.

It is hot everywhere in Germany and from what I have read in many other parts of Europe. I have just returned from Britain where the South of the country reached temperatures of more than 30 degrees. I cancelled a planned trip to London as I did not want to spent the day in 34 degrees. Trains are fine in the capital but when you leave the air-conditioned places the heat hits you even harder... Talking of trains - the air-conditioning failed on Eurotunnel carriages. Some where taken out of service, the conditions for the waiting passengers leaving from Britain trying to get onto the remaining carriages where terrible. Conditions where reasonable luckily when I travelled. When I got out of my car - after the long journey - at my house late in the evening the heat hit me and today it is 32 degrees again! The heat will continue for a few days. No rain in sight for the Rhine valley.

More importantly, this leads to the river levels staying put or falling further slightly. Kaub is currently at 83cm.

More info to follow.

notamermaid