Rhine water levels 2024 and similar topics

[Host Jazzbeau]

9 hours ago, notamermaid said:

Speaking of fridge magnets - I also have a couple from the Rhine valley. Never seen one of old ships' reproductions. Perhaps one can get them at museums I have not been to yet.

https://www.zazzle.com/hms+victory+magnets

[notamermaid]

Thank you. zazzle has got some nice stuff, have looked at t-shirts on there before.

 

The engineering for the first Rhine river steam ships obviously came from England but surprisingly - or not - not from the naval ports, like Portsmouth. The first steamship on the Rhine was the Defiance in 1816, built 1815 in Norwich, sailing London to Margate as a packet boat and then across the Channel to the Netherlands. It managed Rotterdam to Cologne but the engine was too weak for the currents upstream (see about the nature of the river in my post about the Bingen rapids).

 

However, the first steps for steam ships on the Rhine were made and in 1817 the Caledonia did the next and slightly more successful test run.

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

[notamermaid]

We have severe weather warnings for the area East-Northeast of Basel (not Basel) extending past Lake Constance. It is hot in the valley and getting muggy.

 

With Lake Constance having returned to normal levels for this time of year and the Upper Rhine valley looking good, any rain is welcome for the large river, it can easily take it. The problem are localized flash floods.

 

It would be good if the clouds could slightly shift to the Danube, please, a more even distribution would be appreciated by the river cruisers on that river in August.

 

Kaub gauge looking really good for the first week in August, still far away from any low water concerns even for commercial shipping.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Looks like during the evening more rain clouds have swept in from France, also covering Basel and more of the Upper Rhine valley. The weather is quiet in the Middle Rhine valley so far. We may see thunderstorms during the night.

 

Connected to weather. The institution "Deutsche Umwelthilfe" has, based on specific criteria, given 24 large communities (town or city) in Germany the "red card" as regards green spaces and heat prevention in the sense of sealing the soil with tarmac and concrete. Three of them are in Rhineland-Palatinate and the worst one is - Ludwigshafen. I am not surprised... The city partly due to the huge chemical works BASF has been dubbed a Betonwüste, a "concrete desert".

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

[notamermaid]

Two more river cruise ship hulls have been pushed or pulled along the Danube, been through the Canal, gone downstream on the Main and then sailed the Rhine to the Netherlands for outfitting. One is the APT Ostara, the other one has been dubbed "namenlos", i.e, name not given, but it is a short one and most likely designed for the Douro. Latest suggestion of the name it will get is Stolt Rose [sounds odd, hmm, not sure about that one]. Both have been spotted by these guys: https://www.binnenschifferforum.de/showthread.php?118669-FGKS-Kasko-APT-Ostara-BN664

and

https://www.binnenschifferforum.de/showthread.php?118676-STOLT-ROSE-FGKS-Kasko

 

And I happened to spot the APT Ostara, too, by chance. She will sail the waters of Germany and beyond.

 

Another ship that is supposed to come to this realm is the Viva Enjoy. According to German tourism news, she has been delayed and will not be completed in autumn. Her first sailing is now going to be over New Year's Eve.

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

[notamermaid]

The river is always busy with all sorts of vessels and on 30 July it was particularly busy with river cruise ships around Rüdesheim. Or that was just my impression. I did a bit of ship spotting through the archive of the Bingen webcam of that day. The reason was trying to see either of the two ship hulls passing through. As it happens I did see the APT Ostara in real life, but managed to find her in the archive, too. Here is the pair coming round the island towards Rüdesheim and Bingen:

 

With the ten minute interval they managed to be in the webcam twice. Sailing into the Rhine Gorge, with a Phoenix Reisen ship passing them:

 

And that is of course - see my post from Sunday - close to the site of the former Bingen rapids.

 

River levels all good and looking really promising for much of August now. A brief look back at July coming up.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

It is really time for a look back at the levels in July but I have had that idle Sunday afternoon feeling again and I prefer to post a bit more on geography and paintings. 😉 The tea has been drunk and dinner is round the corner so here is another quick puzzle. William Turner and the Bingen rapids we have had at the gateway to the Upper Middle Rhine valley. Now let us travel to the Lower Middle Rhine valley again - Oberwinter. William Turner painted so much that we also have a view of Drachenfels by him:

Cropped. Courtesy of www.william-turner.org

 

So let us have a look at the more realistic, romantic German painter Johannes Jakob Diezler:

 

 

Courtesy of Sammlung RheinRomantik. You can see the same two hills with ruins but there is now a massive church in the view. And there are two noteworthy technical things in the painting, one is the new steamship depicted in front of Nonnenwerth (the island). The second is - what? Okay, this may be not so obvious so I will give you a bit of time to figure it out.

 

notamermaid

 

[Canal archive]

Is it as silly as maybe the clock has a light in it? Thank you never heard of him before but superb landscapes.

[notamermaid]

2 hours ago, Canal archive said:

Is it as silly as maybe the clock has a light in it?

The clock in the church tower is what I am looking for, you are right in that. But not a light. It kind of stands out of the painting, doesn't it? Why?

 

notamermaid

 

 

[notamermaid]

Right, here is the answer - a technical detail, quite typical of this 19th century period in art. The clock on the church is literally in the painting, a hole in the canvas and really mechanically works. This type of painting is called a Bilderuhr, usually referred to in English as a picture clock or mechanical clock painting. The painting by Diezler together with others can be looked up here in the index: https://www.sammlung-rheinromantik.de/index.php?id=3&L=804

 

Here is another painting with clock:

 

So these are real clocks in paintings. In addition to the clockwork they may have musical works in them. Like this one of Neuwied, in Neuwied: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIFn0yHfrpY

 

And when it gets really elaborate they become paintings with moving parts, like this one of Hamburg (they explain the restoration): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Su6kSxNcY94

 

Father and son Diezler were born in Koblenz-Ehrenbreitstein and painted many scenes of the Rhine valley and the tributaries, mainly Lahn and Moselle. They worked together in a workshop in Cologne for several years.

 

notamermaid

 

 

[Canal archive]

Oh wow, I live and learn thank you so much now I’m going to be on the hunt for them and a conundrum for you. Ta Muchly!

[notamermaid]

My pleasure.

3 hours ago, Canal archive said:

Ta Muchly!

Is that a typical phrase in your region? Never hear it from my Kent friends.

 

Staying with the Sammlung RheinRomantik. The connected museum where the collection is housed, or has its home you could say, is the Siebengebirgsmuseum. I found out by chance yesterday that their next exhibition will be on the British view of the Rhine valley and it will be called "Too beautiful!" That is apparently what Queen Victoria noted in her diary when she visited the valley in 1845. Her trip is of course legendary among folk like me and regional historians. 🙂For me, a trip to Königswinter is in order in autumn.

 

Incidentally, two German river cruise ships signalled from the landing stages at the town last night. A rarer occurrence.

 

notamermaid

 

P.S.: Quiet hot days in the valley, only read of one scare of a barge nearly sinking, but issue resolved. Water levels "perfect".

 

 

 

[notamermaid]

It may be confusing that I first mentioned Oberwinter and then Königswinter. I clarify. The view is from Oberwinter, where the painters are standing towards the Drachenfels hill which belongs to Königswinter. On the shiptracker map this looks like this:

Always busy with ships, including the ferries.

 

You may be wondering what that part of the valley is like for navigation, seeing that the Rhine Gorge is so narrow, tricky and has low water issues. The hilly region including the Seven Mountains range is not quite as rugged and dramatic and navigation is generally easier. And the river is deeper. So, low water issues are rare. When Kaub reaches its limits for river cruise ships (one by one) at a gauge reading of rule-of-thumb 80cm and lower, the river is of course also low further downstream but the nature of the river means it is deeper and also dug out to ensure a deeper navigation channel. In bad years, ships only make it up to Andernach, in really bad years only up to Bonn or Cologne even. It happened in 2018 to the 135m ships, the 110m ships fared a little better. Logistics of suitable docking places contributed to the problem. But in any normal low, the Rhine downstream from Koblenz stays accessible.

 

notamermaid

 

[Canal archive]

Ta Muchly is an English colloquialism meaning ‘thank you very much’ it derives from really old English and is now considered a ‘slang’ expression. In my youth us kids used it both in the London and Portsmouth areas and I don’t know if it was used that much in other parts of the country.

[notamermaid]

Now, a brief look back at July's river levels.

 

Lake Constance started the month on flooding status but from the middle of the month has finally been going down. It is still nowhere near the mean but that is not a problem. In fact, this kind of level is good to keep the Upper Rhine valley going through the coming dry days of August and September and the hot weather.

 

 

Likewise, as a result, Maxau gauge has fallen well. It finally left navigational flood mark I on 19 July and is comfortably a bit above the mean by the end of the month.

 

 

We see this repeated at Kaub gauge in the Middle Rhine valley where the river went down in due course and by the end of the month was close to the long-term mean. A good level that when fed by the Lake and occasional rain makes for a comfortable August for river cruise ships.

 

notamermaid

 

[ddaley822]

16 hours ago, notamermaid said:

A good level that when fed by the Lake and occasional rain makes for a comfortable August for river cruise ships.

Happy to hear!! I have been following your updates here for a year and now it’s finally my turn! I’m sailing Amsterdam to Basel Aug 22-29 and am happy to see a comfortable water level. In my trip notes I’d make a checklist item to "Check Rhine water levels – 90cm-40cm spells trouble” haha. Kaub currently at 209cm, looking pretty good! 🤩

[notamermaid]

3 hours ago, ddaley822 said:

Kaub currently at 209cm, looking pretty good! 🤩

Thank you. Let's compare to other years. Not as easy to look up as on the Danube, but I have compiled a short list. Here goes.

 

Kaub gauge level on 8 August (daily mean)

2008 173cm

2009 217cm

2010 321cm

2011 205cm

2012 154cm

2013 189cm

2014 333cm

2015 96cm

2016 274cm

2017 152cm

2018 65cm

2019 171cm

2020 197cm

2021 372cm

2022 53cm

2023 201cm

 

2018 has been the worst year in recorded history at Kaub, but 2022 actually saw the river lower on 8 August. The difference is that in August of 2018 the level was on its way down to abysmal levels whereas in 2022 we had a very dry spell that was broken at the end of the month so the Rhine recovered fast and after a few dry days in September the river was able to return to more favourable levels for river traffic.

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

 

 

[notamermaid]

On Thursday Kaub gauge was at 209cm. Having seen the river banks yesterday I could tell that the heat is taking water out of the river but that is to be expected. Kaub gauge is now at 188cm. A steady loss of centimetres which is perfectly normal without rain. This trend will continue so that we may see 150cm later this coming week. At which point international newspapers may pick up on the fact that commercial river traffic prepares for low water. As I have mentioned before, this is not a concern for river cruise ships. With the High Rhine still providing higher than average volumes of water we should not go to "low water mode" for river cruises for quite a few days, meaning the level will most likely stay above 100cm for well over a week. As of today, the probability chart rules out the 100cm until 22 August and on 23 August the risk is still minimal.

 

notamermaid

 

 

[notamermaid]

Just a brief update on Kaub gauge. Some centimetres lost again, now at 176cm. But the long-term forecast has actually improved slightly. So we will leave it at that and come back to Kaub after the thunderstorms.

 

notamermaid

 

[SAmome]

Thanks so much for this informative thread.

 

So, do ya'll estimate the September Rhine cruises should go off without a hitch from what you see now as to the water levels? 

 

Do we already know "too low" levels very unlikely and "too high" would only happen if torrential rainfall, etc?

 

 

[notamermaid]

44 minutes ago, SAmome said:

So, do ya'll estimate the September Rhine cruises should go off without a hitch from what you see now as to the water levels? 

For Kaub, we have a forecast 36 hours out, a prediction of several days and a long-term modelling of 14 days into the future. And there is the "statistically highly speculative" modelling of six weeks. The last one I prefer to ignore. It is looking promising for a moderately good start to September. I will go no further than that. After the thunderstorms and the reaction to them, say Thursday, I am happy to review this.

 

So,

49 minutes ago, SAmome said:

Do we already know "too low" levels very unlikely

for end of August I am willing to say we do not know but have a good idea that it is very likely to not be in the range of "too low" and

52 minutes ago, SAmome said:

"too high" would only happen if torrential rainfall

correct as of now. I would likewise say that till about the end of August we will not see such a rise at Maxau gauge. There has been some flooding in Switzerland, the thunderstorms are bringing a lot of rain. The Upper Rhine valley can take that rain and has a lot of room now so a rise at Maxau will happen but stay in a manageable range. Right now, one day of rain is not a problem and neither are downpours.

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

[notamermaid]

Slight change of topic. This coming weekend the state bordering mine to the North is celebrating the NRW-Tag. That means it is two days of fun (and traffic chaos along the river banks potentially) during the "North Rhine-Westphalia Day" in Cologne. Only in German but I am posting it nevertheless. You can click on more info on the website (including a letter to local residents) for what is happening in the harbour: https://www.rheinauhafen-koeln.de/neuigkeiten/details/nrw-tag-2024-im-koelner-rheinauhafen

In the Rheinauhafen there is a special ship that you can have a look at and there will be an information stand according to one of the volunteers of the restoration, it is the MS Stadt Köln.

 

Info on Cologne official website: https://www.stadt-koeln.de/artikel/73274/index.html

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

On 8/13/2024 at 7:22 PM, notamermaid said:

It is looking promising for a moderately good start to September. I will go no further than that. After the thunderstorms and the reaction to them, say Thursday, I am happy to review this.

 

It is Thursday morning and another bright day in the Rhine valley. Thunderstorms have been moderate to severe (in a few places). Maxau gauge has risen a little and the ups and downs due to rain on and off may bring the level to the long-term mean. This is giving Kaub gauge a boost, which has risen with all the rain coming from the nearer tributaries to the Rhine to 185cm. This brings us closer to September with confidence, that is to say of a good start to the month and has reduced the likelihood of low levels since we talked about this on Thursday. Flooding of course never to be ruled when looking weeks into the future, but it is looking highly unlikely in this weather pattern and at these temperatures.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

A brief update this weekend. Maxau gauge still on track to getting to the long-term mean. Kaub gauge at 172cm. Forecast to rise moderately in reaction to the rain this weekend. All good.

 

In other news: at Gernsheim a tanker and a car ferry collided this morning. No injuries, but some damage sustained to the vessels.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

The rain moved Southeast and gave the Danube quite a bit of water. At Kaub the river is now at 177cm and will soon rise as the Middle Rhine valley is experiencing the wave that the High Rhine took on when Switzerland drained its excess water. All within a pleasant range in France and Germany.

 

notamermaid