Danube water levels 2021 and similar topics - plus tips and info

[notamermaid]

At this time of year on the Bavarian Danube we would, more as a norm than an exception these days, see low water levels. This autumn has started well with enough water left over from flooding in summer. So Pfelling gauge has stayed over 300cm in the past week, as expected from the predictions and weather pattern. Will it stay this way? The next few days show no rain anywhere near the German Danube, but from Sunday rain is drifting in from the West which will cover the whole German Danube on Monday. While we will obviously see a fall in level till Sunday, this should not be too fast and with a wet Monday and Tuesday may well ensure smooth sailing. The level as I write stands at 327cm, a likely figure within the prediction range on Friday is 315cm.

 

I have linked this in a previous year, here it is again, the Danube waterway map: https://www.viadonau.org/fileadmin/content/viadonau/01Newsroom/Dokumente/2015/Wasserstraßenkarte_2019_A1_final.pdf

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

The weather happened as forecast, so did the level at Pfelling, but it briefly went down to 291cm on Sunday. With the rain setting in the level went straight back up, now at 329cm. This week will see a mix of dry and slightly rainy days along the German Danube and its tributaries, so if this is good enough to keep the level comfortably over 290cm is not clear yet. Looking further ahead, as of now, much rain is coming in from the West Sunday into Monday.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Looking briefly at Pfelling again, we see little but crucial change. The level is now at 319cm and in the prediction which runs into Saturday is looking to stay over 300cm, most likely in a range between 305cm and 320cm. But you will need umbrellas in the days after Sunday for those walking tours, it is going to be proper wet autumn from Monday.

 

Just to remind you of the geography: Pfelling lies between Regensburg and Passau in an unregulated (without locks) stretch of the Danube. Why your embarkation port in Germany can make a difference in your river cruise planning to avoid low water events in this stretch I will get to in another post.

 

notamermaid

 

Edited September 30, 2021 by notamermaid
Changed info

[notamermaid]

The weather pattern has changed and the clouds moved differently, so the rain that was supposed to sweep Southern Germany has not come. The level at Pfelling has dropped to 293cm and although rain is falling along the Upper Danube in Baden-Württemberg with more coming tomorrow, this may not be enough to bring the level up again substantially.

 

On 9/30/2021 at 11:33 AM, notamermaid said:

Why your embarkation port in Germany can make a difference in your river cruise planning to avoid low water events in this stretch I will get to in another post.

Leaving from Vilshofen or Passau? You will in all likelihood be fine.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

The plan for this year was to provide you a graph that would show the river level at Pfelling month on month, but the authorities have changed the format, meaning the website does no longer show the graph covering 31 days. So, assuming it will not come back and I cannot find it on another website, let us change to this. Not sure that I can keep up weekly reporting, but let us start. The river is low and since yesterday has been stable at this level, this afternoon showing 294cm. The yellow bit is the frame of the forecast with the line in it showing the most likely development (over 12 hours from time of issuing) with the river having already decided to stay below that, I am afraid. A note on the word "Rohdaten", it means these are preliminary figures, quite literally raw data.

 

 

 

Onto the problem with the stretch from Regensburg to Passau. The low water problem area is between Straubing and Vilshofen where the navigation channel is the shallowest. Perhaps you have noticed in the last few years that more and more companies are using Vilshofen and Passau as embarkation ports. Passau (and Engelhartszell more recently) has been a standard embarkation port for German/European companies for many years, I myself started from Passau in 2013. With Passau being so full and the boom in river cruising year after year, it has prompted Vilshofen to increase their capacities - you would usually (not always) do that when a river cruise company knocks on your door - and that has paid off apparently. AmaWaterways uses Vilshofen on "Romantic Danube" and "Melodies of the Danube". "Blue Danube Discovery"/"Legendary Danube" are still using Nuremberg. I will get to the "special relationship" between AmaWaterways and Vilshofen at a later date.

 

But that is not the only change in this area. Viking sails from Passau or Regensburg. Where is Nuremberg? I cannot find a Viking itinerary that starts from there, it appears to be a post-cruise option from Regensburg.

 

Now, I cannot say that these decisions have anything to do with low water levels but it is interesting to note the gradual changes happening over several years. And it gives you the option of taking the risk of low water into consideration when booking your cruise. Tauck by the way has also been using Vilshofen as an embarkation port for a few years now, I do not know when they started.

 

What about the popular extension Prague? Is that not further away then? Let us see, according to google maps, to Prague (looking at ports following the Danube downstream) it is:

from Erlangen 316km

from Nuremberg 309km

from Regensburg 274km

from Straubing 234km

from Vilshofen 241km

from Passau 231km

from Engelhartszell 253km

 

I would say Vilshofen also looks attractive for getting to Prague. And the town itself? If you have embarked in Vilshofen, what do you think?

 

notamermaid

 

 

[notamermaid]

In brief: Pfelling after the little dip is back up to now 309cm and looks to be hovering around the 300cm figures (say a range from 295 to 310) over the weekend.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

It has been a sunny weekend and a Sunday without rain. The level at Pfelling therefore stands at 292cm tonight. Monday is again likely to bring just a tiny bit, if any, precipitation to the Danube valley in Germany. The forecast is for the level to drop below 290cm Monday evening.

 

notamermaid

 

[Texas Trippin]

Thanks so very much for providing this info!!  Since I'm not certain about when the levels of the Danube are too low for cruising, let me ask:  We are scheduled to take the Crystal Ravel On Oct 21st from Vienna and head west to Krems and then go back east and end in Budapest.  Should we be concerned about the water level being too low?

 

Thanks so much for doing this!!

[notamermaid]

1 hour ago, Texas Trippin said:

Thanks so very much for providing this info!! 

My pleasure. I was going to write tonight an update on Pfelling, but first to your question. Should you be worried? To be honest I cannot answer that all too well as I am not familiar with Austrian river levels beyond the first lock really. You will be in Niederösterreich in your travels, so the weather can already differ quite a bit from Germany and you have rivers joining the Danube which may give it a more substantial amount of water than happens in Germany.

 

What I have learnt over the years is that Straubing to Vilshofen is the worst part (in which Pfelling lies) and the Danube downstream to Budapest is usually still okay when Pfelling becomes an issue. After Budapest the pattern is different, to which I can only really say this simple statement. In Austria, locks control much of the river but shallows exist so when Pfelling gets really bad the situation in Austria can become an issue. I just cannot directly relate Germany to Austria. What you can do is look at the official website, I have chosen Korneuburg: https://www.noel.gv.at/wasserstand/#/de/Messstellen/Details/207241/WasserstandPrognose/48Stunden

The level is not low yet and the prediction goes up so this does not look too bad I would guess. You can keep following this along through the coming days. And when you are on the river you can see at what level your ship is able to sail, i.e. when going through Korneuburg. I am sure you are busy exploring but just in case you want have a look at the situation when you are on the water I have posted the graph.

 

Whatever happens, I am sure Crystal will take good care of you, they now have a few years experience with reacting to short-term changes. Get ready to be pampered .

 

Have a great time!

 

And as I said, I was going to provide an update on Pfelling: after a dip during the day (which often happens) the level is now back up to 292cm, but the trend is downwards, so the prediction suggests a level of 282cm for tomorrow and there is not much rain forecast for this week. The current weather pattern suggests that Upper Austria will get a bit more than the German Danube. Sounds like a see-saw around 290cm to me! Let us have another look on Thursday.

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

 

 

[Table33]

LOW WATER ITINERARY CHANGE.  Scheduled to embark Scenic Jasper today, Oct 13,  in Nuremberg for a Nuremberg-Budapest 7-day cruise.  Received e-mail and phone alerts yesterday they are changing embarkation to Passau advising that "due to low water levels at Pfelling, between Passau and Nuremberg, Scenic Jasper is unable to navigate this stretch of the river."

 

Transfers from Munich and Nuremberg will now go to Passau.  The itinerary is being changed a bit:  on Oct 14 they will operate Nuremberg touring out of Passau, with an additional Passau tour for those who want to stay in town.  On Oct 15 they will operate Regensburg touring out of Passau.  On Oct 16 they will resume standard itinerary, which I interpret to mean Jasper will spend 3 nights in Passau.  While appreciating the creative re-accommodation required due to low water, it does mean a reduction in river cruising time, more motorcoach time (2 hr drive from Passau to Nuremberg; 75 min to Regensburg), and the lost opportunity to explore Nuremberg and Regensburg on one's own schedule.  A friend had told me to be sure to allow time to stop for sausages and beer in both Nuremberg and Regensburg, so sorry to miss out on that experience.

[Canal archive]

Take note as the Scenic fleet are some of the shallowest draughted on the European rivers.

[notamermaid]

@Table33 First: thank you for the info which confirms the crucial centimetres missing at Pfelling.

 

More importantly: I am sorry to read about that altered itinerary. So the Jasper is fortunately downstream of the shallow part, but boarding in Passau does mean a lot of coach travel to Nuremberg and Regensburg. I hope it still works out with the sausage tasting. I wonder why they do not embark in Vilshofen? It would reduce the coach trips by a few minutes. With other ships in a similar situation it could of course get full in Vilshofen. Passau is a lovely place but three days without sailing is not fun. You would have sailed much of Nuremberg to Passau at night but you would have sailed!

 

I hope you nevertheless have a great cruise. I really enjoyed sailing out of Passau where I embarked and the Wachau valley in Austria is splendid. Enjoy!

 

notamermaid

 

[Texas Trippin]

Thanks so very much for the timely and informative response!!  Hopefully since we are only going as far east as Linz, Austria there will be enough water to float our boat.... We have about 12 couples coming from Texas on the trip so even if the river is low the volume will absolutely be going up!!

 

Thanks again!!

[notamermaid]

@Texas Trippin It sounds as if you will have a splendid time and make the best of the situation, even if the boat were to be almost stationary (never going to happen, heaven forbid)! 12 couples . Would love to join for an evening. I think I have never met a Texan in my life, let alone 24 of you.

 

notamermaid

 

 

[notamermaid]

It is Thursday early afternoon so what is happening with the level at Pfelling? In short: a bit better than anticipated. It now stands at 302cm and the prediction is going up minimally then down again.

 

A nice bit of rain over the Danube water basin today, with the next two days bringing little to none. Regensburg as an example: some rain today, none tomorrow, a negligible amount on Saturday, none on Sunday.

 

notamermaid

 

[Texas Trippin]

Errr, I meant to say our cruise on the Crystal Ravel only goes as far WEST as Linz, Austria (I'm directionally challenged).....

 

notamermaid, I'd love to have you join us but we're not ever in Germany.  Is Linz near you?  Plus herding 20 Texans is kinda like herding cats that have both rabies and gastrointestinal issues.  

[notamermaid]

@Texas Trippin Do not worry about the geography details, thye are a challenge when you come from far away, I was kind of unsure where everything is on the Danube between Passau and Budapest and I am European! I am far away from Linz I am afraid. It will stay a dream to join in. If I had the chance, okay, I  would not do any herding, leave that to the crew, just join in the fun for a bit.

 

Oh, when in Linz - if you have a sweet tooth - try some Linzer Torte.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Let us have a look at the past week:

 

The river has been on the low side, but overall, the intermittent rain has been able to keep it from falling to levels that would cause many ships to have to adjust for several days in a row as we have seen in previous years. For the next two days it looks promising to stay this way but there is quite a margin of figures above and below 300cm which means that the most likely figure marked with a blue line would be a relatively good outcome but the river may well fall below that. That would at this point in time make problems a possible scenario.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

The river has decided to go for the lower end of the margin that the prediction showed on Friday evening (see above) and today at 1pm local time Pfelling gauge stood at 288cm. Downward trend to continue.

 

notamermaid

 

[chrisrotlmacin]

Lower Danube is low. At Galati sand banks are clearly visible. For more information on Romanian sector of Danube please visit the official web site of River Administration of the Lower Danube. https://www.afdj.ro/ro/cotele-dunarii  Picture is taken at Braila. 

Edited October 17, 2021 by chrisrotlmacin

[notamermaid]

Short update: Pfelling at 292cm, so no turn for the worse for the time being. Weather pattern looks a bit better, some rain forecast for tomorrow for the Danube upper reaches in Germany, almost none on Wednesday, a substantial amount on Thursday. Storms forecast for Germany, mainly  affecting the North, West and Southwest. Up to force 8 in gusts on Thursday in Bavaria as well.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Tonight Pfelling gauge stands at 295cm. With little rain forecast for tomorrow and much rain for Thursday, can the level recover or at least stay stable?

 

As of now, the weather forecast shows little rain in the basin and none over the Danube itself on Friday and even less rain anywhere in the region on Saturday.

 

Weather warning for storm tomorrow in the high Bavarian Forest is now out, no warnings along the Danube yet.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Pfelling is now at 303cm. A recovery that will last?

 

Around Munich and towards the Danube the weather is better than in the majority of Germany, i.e. less storm now and in the next 12 hours, but increasing tomorrow.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Storm has increased in Bavaria, force 9 in the valley today, the Bavarian Forest is worse.

 

Pfelling at 299cm, notable rise expected in the early hours of Friday.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Storm warning level 2 still in place in the Bavarian Forest and around Deggendorf closer to the river.

 

The river at Pfelling has decided not to react with a rise and now stands at 298cm. The forecast for 12 hours shows minimal rise only. The storm has caused damage throughout Germany, trees have been felled in mountainous areas but this has to a minor degree also affected lower forests.

 

In places below 500m the storm was not quite as severe but got close to hurricane force. One of the strongest gusts measured in such lower lying areas occurred in Würzburg: 115km/h.

 

Weather forecast shows little rain from Sunday to Thursday for the German Danube basin.

 

notamermaid