The Elbe river 2023 - not just water levels

[notamermaid]

The Czech authorities are still letting good amounts of water through and the weather is more favourable of course now. The Elbe is doing better than the Danube by far and for three days was actually better than the Rhine, meaning comparing the levels at Kaub (the Rhine Gorge) and Dresden for sailing conditions. Dresden gauge now at 113cm.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

The Rhine has returned to pleasant levels and there is tentative good news on the Danube. The gauge at Dresden says 118cm, the level has been constantly over 100cm the past week so is doing relatively well.

 

notamermaid

 

[AnhaltER1960]

No news is good news, as far as water levels of the Elbe are concerned. The water levels are keeping a sound level and this likely will not change until the Christmas market season starts.

 

The Elbe region has a lot to offer for travellers between Berlin and Prague, both cities not lying at the Elbe. The Elbe cruises are (with the exception of Dresden) calling at smaller places, many of them have their share of history.

 

Lutherstadt Wittenberg, birthplace of the reformation, is one of them. However, the standard destination in Wittenberg, the Luther House, the place, where Luther lived for several decades, closed down for renovation until well into 2025.

 

 

[notamermaid]

On 11/9/2023 at 9:47 AM, AnhaltER1960 said:

No news is good news, as far as water levels of the Elbe are concerned.

Thank you. It looks indeed good. A recap of October when the level was already recovering:

 

Not long to go to the Christmas market cruises, I hope all river cruisers will have a splendid time. The town of Torgau I find intriguing, would like to see the Palace there. I see they have a Christmas market with a fairy-tale theme: https://tic-torgau.de/event/torgauer-maerchenweihnachtsmarkt/

 

notamermaid

 

 

[notamermaid]

With the Danube and the Rhine experiencing some flooding we should have a look at the Elbe. Dresden is at 163cm. All fine around the long-term mean. But there is some volume of water coming so a slight rise we can assume will happen soon at Dresden.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Time to have a look at how the river did at Dresden in November:

 

Simply a good month. It started on a slight low but soon recovered and got closer to the mean (MW) and finally above. There it remained without getting too high.

 

notamermaid

 

 

[notamermaid]

The situation on the Danube and the Rhine is not good for river cruising, we have mild flooding which is set to get worse during the next 48 hours. Perhaps a bit surprisingly the Elbe is almost unaffected. This is the flood warning map, green colour is good, yellow not so much, orange is not good at all:

Only a few small tributaries of the Elbe have really elevated levels.

 

notamermaid

 

[Host Jazzbeau]

As I recall the Elbe is controlled by dams in Czechia, which is why it gets so low in dry weather as the Czechs keep the water they need.  Do they have the capacity to hold extra water now to prevent flooding downstream?

[AnhaltER1960]

56 minutes ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Do they have the capacity to hold extra water now to prevent flooding downstream?

The Czech authorities did some maintenance work at their reservoirs, releasing plenty of water in September. So indeed they might have some capacity now to hold back water/refill those reservoirs. 

On the other hand, while there was a relatively wet autumn and winter so far, relative for this rather dry region, which feeds the Elbe, there were no torrential rainfalls. Also a bit of snow, but well below the masses of snow falling in Bavaria and the Alps, which now are melting and causing (or at least adding to) the floods of Danube and Rhine.

[Rebel54]

Looking to do a cruise with Viva from Berlin to Prague for Christmas.  How are the levels, on average, in the winter?

 

[AnhaltER1960]

8 hours ago, Rebel54 said:

Looking to do a cruise with Viva from Berlin to Prague for Christmas.  How are the levels, on average, in the winter?

 

Miss to the left, miss to the right, rabbit on average dead :-).

 

Anyway, around Christmas water levels are usually no issue. I cannot remember the river being too high in December, the last winter flood was in 2003, if I recall correctly. And that was in January/Feb. Draught might happen in summer/autumn, but not in winter. So enjoy planning.

[AnhaltER1960]

Looks like the reservoirs on the Elbe and Moldova are filled now. Quite a wave coming down, Dresden gauge has risen by one metre within the last two days. Still far from flooding, which would impact sailing, but not peaked yet.

[Rebel54]

14 hours ago, AnhaltER1960 said:

Miss to the left, miss to the right, rabbit on average dead :-).

 

Anyway, around Christmas water levels are usually no issue. I cannot remember the river being too high in December, the last winter flood was in 2003, if I recall correctly. And that was in January/Feb. Draught might happen in summer/autumn, but not in winter. So enjoy planning.

Thank you.  I was starting to rethink doing a Christmas cruise with all the flooding happening. 

[notamermaid]

23 hours ago, Rebel54 said:

Looking to do a cruise with Viva from Berlin to Prague for Christmas. 

It must be this itinerary: https://www.viva-*****/en/reise/weihnachten-elbe-moldau

I am sure that is magical. The much smaller Swiss Ruby (the river cannot take the standard river cruise ships) is perhaps not for everyone but with Christmas decorations and the smaller number of passengers this is bound to be merry and cozy.

 

notamermaid

 

[Rebel54]

34 minutes ago, notamermaid said:

It must be this itinerary: https://www.viva-*****/en/reise/weihnachten-elbe-moldau

I am sure that is magical. The much smaller Swiss Ruby (the river cannot take the standard river cruise ships) is perhaps not for everyone but with Christmas decorations and the smaller number of passengers this is bound to be merry and cozy.

 

notamermaid

 

That's it.  Planning on going with a friend and my daughter and her family.  I'm looking forward to it. 

[notamermaid]

A quick look at the Elbe. Yes, the river is high in comparison to summer but the authorities do not put this in the category "mild flooding". Looks good, in that section. By the way, I do not know the situation about low bridges on the Elbe.

 

I have shortened the timeline so you can see the jump better:

 

Flooding level at Dresden is at 400cm.

 

notamermaid

 

 

[AnhaltER1960]

On 12/18/2023 at 2:30 PM, notamermaid said:

By the way, I do not know the situation about low bridges on the Elbe.

 

notamermaid

 

 

Not really an issue. At 500 cm Dresden gauge, navigation is stopped. However, the Augustus bridge in Dresden poses a difficulty well below that level, as it is a bit narrow, located in a curve and with high current navigation downstream can become tricky. But those levels have not been reached now, and the Elbe has already peaked. So no trouble for this year.

[notamermaid]

Too much rain is now making the Elbe rise as well. Dresden gauge is at 301cm. It may well rise over to 500cm on Christmas Eve. That is flooding level 2.

 

notamermaid

 

[AnhaltER1960]

13 hours ago, notamermaid said:

Too much rain is now making the Elbe rise as well. Dresden gauge is at 301cm. It may well rise over to 500cm on Christmas Eve. That is flooding level 2.

 

notamermaid

 

Wow, thats what I call a weather extreme. There had been plenty of rain here, but it must have been much worse in the Czech republic. And overnight the Elbe at the Czech/German border has doubled her discharge from around 400 cubic metres per second to 800 (in comparison: low water is around 100 cusec), resulting, of course, in higher water levels.

 

Just having written "no trouble for this year...", that also caught me by surprise. However, Viking finish their sailings tomorrow, Dec 24th, so they just should be ok (I dont see the 500 cm for Dresden tomorrow yet). But maybe I should be careful with predictions those days... like our weather people: against all forecasts, which saw snow only in the hills above 600 mtrs altitude, we just had one hour of heavy snowfall.

[notamermaid]

10 hours ago, AnhaltER1960 said:

(I dont see the 500 cm for Dresden tomorrow yet).

It looks like the forecast has been adjusted for the better since I looked, so Dresden is under 500cm.

 

The elevated levels are showing on the map now:

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

The situation has dramatically worsened along the Elbe. Much water is also carried by the Vltava. News from Prague: https://praguemorning.cz/prague-closes-gates-on-certovka-and-embankments-due-to-flood-threat/

 

Dresden gauge is showing very high levels, current figure is 588cm, the peak is expected on the 29th:

 

notamermaid

 

[Rebel54]

I'm excited, booked Berlin to Prague for Nov 2025.  I know it's a ways out but I don't care.  I can't wait. 🙂

[jpalbny]

1 hour ago, Rebel54 said:

I'm excited, booked Berlin to Prague for Nov 2025.  I know it's a ways out but I don't care.  I can't wait. 🙂

 

Sounds great! We did our own version of that a few years ago. Flew to Prague, spent 3 nights, then we took the train to Berlin for 3 more nights there. Too bad we missed everything in between! 

[notamermaid]

1 hour ago, Rebel54 said:

I'm excited, booked Berlin to Prague for Nov 2025.  I know it's a ways out but I don't care.  I can't wait. 🙂

Great!

 

I did not know the bookings were open so far in advance. So you are going early in the Christmas market season: https://www.viva-*****/en/reise/adventsreise-nach-prag

It is not fully clear to me but it looks from the daily arrival and departure times that the Swiss Ruby sails right into Prague. No coaches involved. Am I right?

 

notamermaid

 

[Rebel54]

29 minutes ago, notamermaid said:

Great!

 

I did not know the bookings were open so far in advance. So you are going early in the Christmas market season: https://www.viva-*****/en/reise/adventsreise-nach-prag

It is not fully clear to me but it looks from the daily arrival and departure times that the Swiss Ruby sails right into Prague. No coaches involved. Am I right?

 

notamermaid

 

They literally just posted today.  It's such a small boat I didn't want to wait. Only have to put down 20% and the remainder is due 30 days prior to departure. 2024 was booked up pretty fast.  No coaches.  We will meet them in Berlin and end in Prague.  I am very excited. 

Edited December 29, 2023 by Rebel54